Blood Isn't Worth to be Shed for Love
by Jalissa M
Summary: A girl named Irina's life is about to change. Her mother has died in a car accident and her father is taking it rather hard. She decides to go and live with her uncle and cousin. While living there she finds out a terrible secret being kept from her.
1. The Move

Chapter 1

I was alone on the bus on my way to The City of Republic, Washington. I'm going there to move in with my Uncle Craig and my cousin Tyler. Tyler's parents had gotten a divorce and he is living with his dad. His mom, off with some other guy; not carrying about his son. It's not like Tyler cared anyway, he never did like his mom.

The reason why I am moving in with Craig and Tyler is because my mom had died just recently. My dad had taken it really hard and comes home late at night. One day Craig and Tyler had come over for a visit and dad stumbled in like the drunkard he was. He blamed me for mom's death. He said if I hadn't needed a drive home from school, she wouldn't be dead. Craig and Tyler decided it was time for me to move away from dad until he got his act together. They were nervous that dad was going to hurt me.

I sat in my seat on the bus patiently. I looked out the window to see where we were and I saw up ahead two figures waving their arms as if they were about to fall off. I smiled widely and opened the bus window, waving back at my greeters.

"Irina!" One had called out. The voice sounded young and alive, obviously Tyler. My smile went wider when I began to see him jump up and down, then Craig smacking him upside the head saying something. The bus came to a stop and I grabbed my bags and jumped off. I first saw Craig when I got off so I greeted him with a hug.

"Irina! How are you? Sorry we couldn't take you with us when we came over. We brought the truck and there were only two seats." He said apologetically. I smiled and shook my head.

"Its fine I needed to pack a lot of stuff anyway." I said placing my bags down on the ground. Craig took my bags and headed to the truck to place them inside. I looked from the corner of my eye and saw Tyler smirking over at me. I turned fully toward him and walked over.

I had to look up at Tyler because he was so tall. Or I was just short.

"What's up squirt?" He asked. Seems he thought so too.

I smiled anyhow knowing he was joking with me. "Nothing much loser." I said making my own snarky remark. Tyler laughed and pulled me into a friendly hug. I returned it with a smile plastered on my face.

I let go of him and said, "Oh yeah, about that prank you pulled on me at the airport. What the hell? I'll be getting you back either way though." I said putting my hands on my hips smirking up at him.

He began to laugh, "That was so funny! You called me and yelled at me during lunch! Everyone was wondering the hell was going on!" He said laughing harder.

Back when I was at the airport getting a plane to Washington (I lived in England), I asked Tyler what gate I was supposed to go to. He told me gate four. I asked the lady at the desk when the plane would be leaving and she told me I was at the wrong gate. The flight to Washington was gate fifteen, on the other side of the airport and she also said that the flight would be leaving in twenty minutes. While running to gate fifteen, I called Tyler and I gave him a piece of my mind. During my argument with Tyler someone in the background of Tyler's phone said to shut up. I was silent for a moment before yelling loud enough for that person to hear and then hung up.

"Who was that guy anyway? " I asked looking up and Tyler questionably. Tyler of course began to snicker.

"Oh that? That guy's name is Desmond Lyndon. He looked pretty pissed of when you hung up." Tyler said smirking.

I looked the other way, secretly happy that I had gotten someone angry without actually being there. I looked back up when I heard Craig calling to us.

"The bags are inside the truck. If you want you can ride in the back." He said smiling.

I nodded eagerly and hopped in the back while Tyler slowly walked over. He slowly climbed in, taking his ever so sweet time. It had gotten me annoyed him taking so long. He seemed to notice and just laughed in off. When he finally got in Craig started the truck and we were off.

We drove into town and it was still the same. It still had the small little shops I loved to go through. There were even some people that I recognized from three years ago. Craig had to go into the bank for a moment and Tyler went along with because apparently, my company wasn't good enough. Or so he says. Every time someone would walk by, I would wave hi. They of course said hi right back. I was happy that the people in town were so friendly but a little nervous when the time came for school. The person I would probably only know would be Tyler and I didn't like the idea of following him around the school like a lost puppy.

That's when I saw him. He was walking down the street like any normal person would on a Saturday. He had short brown hair that was spiked up and coal black eyes. He was as white as a sheet and had purplish black lines underneath those dark penetrating eyes. It looked like he was sleep deprived.

He noticed me starring and starred right back. The way he starred back was penetrating. I wanted to turn away but I couldn't bring myself to. As he gracefully walked closer, I tried to recompose myself though it was not working. He noticed my attempts and he smirked. My breath was knocked out of me; there was no word to describe how beautiful he was.

At the very last moment, I took a deep breath and smiled. This seemed to take him off guard so I smiled more toward him. When he finally got close enough to hear me I spoke,

"Hi. My name's Irina Thomas. What's yours?" I asked reaching my hand out toward him to grasp.

He stared at it for a moment before grasping his hand into mine. It was like I had touched a pack of ice you use to bring swelling down from in injury. A shiver ran up my spine. He smirked again and replied my question.

"My name is Benjamin Lyndon. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said turning his smirk into a smile. I lost my breath for a moment.

I took in his name. It seemed like his name was for older times. Somewhere into the past but none the less I liked it. I saw him starring at me like he was waiting for an answer. I smiled and let go of his freezing cold hand.

"I like that name. Benjamin. Now if I ever have a child I'll name him Benjamin." I said laughing. Benjamin laughed along with me. His laugh was like an angel's bell. When I heard mine and his come together it sounded weird. My voice was nothing compared to his soft, smooth voice.

"Be sure to tell your child that you named him by someone you just met." He said smiling toward me. I laughed and nodded. "I'm very sure he'd love to hear that."

"I take it your new hear?" I nodded my head, my smile widening. "I have come down here from time to time to visit my uncle and cousin. But I haven't been over in a couple years" I said.

He was silent for a while as Benjamin thought about my words, and then he looked back up and smiled. "So I guess you'll be going to Republic High School." Benjamin said continuing to smile.

I nodded. "I'm kind of nervous. The only people I know are my cousin and now you." I said feeling a little embarrassed.

Benjamin smiled saying, "Don't worry once you meet everyone they'll be your friends I won't doubt that." He said laughing.

I gave him a look. "Exactly how big is the school?" This made him laugh more. "There are probably two hundred students in that school-well, two hundred and one now." He said smiling wider.

"Benjamin!"

I turned around to see who called out to him. Your uncle was standing at the door smiling widely at the gorgeous boy. Tyler stood behind him, seeming like he was glaring at Benjamin. I looked at him quizzically when he caught me starring. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the side of the truck.

"Benjamin! It's nice to see you! How are you? Tell your I'll be in around five." Craig said smiling down at the boy. Benjamin smiled back.

"I will. I'm doing very well thank you." He said.

Craig turned toward me gesturing me with his hand. "I take it you've acquainted yourself with my niece Irina." He said. Benjamin smiled looking over at me.

"Yes. But she didn't tell me that she was related to you and Tyler. Now I know who it was who was yelling on the phone." Benjamin said, smiling more.

I felt my face go red. Knowing that this angel like boy knew about my temper tantrum over the phone, how many other people know? I shivered at the thought.

"Yes, I have heard about that. Who I heard it from it sounded rather funny. But the person didn't tell me why it happened." Craig said, smiling rather happily. "No Matter, I'll find out sooner or later from them."

Benjamin laughed then nodded. He turned to me and smiled. "I'll see you in school Irina."

I smiled. Knowing that there will be someone else I knew in the school made me rather excited now. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

He smiled again then looked over toward Tyler. Tyler still had a blank expression on his face. When he noticed mine and Benjamin's gaze he turned to look back.

"See you tomorrow Tyler. I'll be sure to tell Desmond hello for you." Benjamin said rather flatly. Tyler shrugged and looked the other way. I gave Tyler a 'you telling me what's going on later' expression before turning around to Benjamin. But when I turned, he was no where in sight. I looked left and I looked right but I didn't see him anywhere. Craig was already driving off when I finally gave up looking for Benjamin.

I turned and gave Tyler a look. He starred right back at me with a glare and I flinched. He seemed to notice this and snickered. I stuck my tongue out at him knowing that it was very childish of me. Tyler laughed some more before he turned to look the other way.

Knowing that I got him out of his bad mood because of what ever happened, I knew it would be safe when we would get home to ask him what his problem is with Benjamin. Benjamin seemed like a very nice guy. He was unbelievably gorgeous too. I could still feel the coldness of his hand on mine still and that made me wonder if all people were that cold. I shrugged it knowing that it didn't matter.

Then I remembered he said something about a boy named Desmond. Could that Desmond be the same Desmond as the one I yelled at over the phone? If so, I couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he saw me come into the room and walk straight toward him with a snarky remark in my mind.

***

When we got to the house, it was the same as I remembered. It still had the light peachy color. With the giant poles surrounding it and on the side, there were stairs to get up on the second floor. I can never get over how big it is compared to mine. It makes me wonder why it's so big. But when I actually think about it, Doctors get paid really well.

We drove around the giant house and into the garage. The garage door opened automatically and Craig drove in. Inside there was a silver Mitsubishi Outlander and a black Volvo. But behind all those other cars, something popped up at me.

Before the car actually stopped I swung the door open and slammed it shut and ran toward the machine. When I stood only a foot away from it I starred in awe. There was a Black Ducati 749 in the garage. This Ducati was mine.

I heard someone shuffle up next to me but I ignored them completely. I was still starring at my bike. Wondering how in the hell it had gotten there.

"The day we decided to bring you here, we took the bike with us knowing that you'd miss it. We would've taken you with us right then but you had to pack your things." I heard Tyler said.

I continued to stare at my bike. After about five minutes I looked up at Tyler and smiled.

"Thank you so much."

Tyler sighed and looked the other way. "Don't mention it. We were lucky that we brought the truck with us is all."

I continued to smile at Tyler until Craig spoke up.

"Why don't you go take your bags up to your room? It's the same one as always. We just upgraded it a little." He said smiling.

I looked at him questioningly. "How much of an upgrade can you do over one night?"


	2. New Friends & Trouble

**_†_ ****Chapter 2**_** †**_

I walked up the stairs to my new room. The hallway was confusing as ever but I found my room. I opened the door and couldn't believe my eyes.

In just one night, Craig and Tyler had changed a twelve year old room to a beautiful adult bedroom. It was a whitish color with the white fuzzy carpet. There was a giant window on one side of the room and the bed was huge. The headboard had a mirror on it too. I starred in awe at the size of it, yet I was a little upset that they had gone overboard. I heard someone walk in and I turned around. Tyler stood there with a smile on his face. I turned back around to stare at my new and improve room. Tyler finally spoke up after a while.

"Well, do you like it or what?" He asked sounding agitated that I didn't respond right away. I starred at it a little more before turning to Tyler. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, it's beautiful. But you didn't have to go so far." I said walking over to the bed. I sat down on it and took in the room in a new angle. I noticed a few pictures on the wall and one caught my attention the most. I got up and walked over to it.

It was next to the mirror and it was a fair size. It was a picture of me and my mother. Happy as ever; it was taken only a week before she got in the accident. I starred at it for a long moment before a felt something pound on my head. I looked over and saw Tyler starring at the picture also.

"Come on. Let's go downstairs and watch T.V. There's nothing too important to do up here yet." He said walking to the door. Craig appeared at laughed.

"There's always that room of yours you can clean." He said with a basket of laundry in his hand. Tyler made a 'pff' sound before walking around him and heading downstairs. Before I followed him, I walked up to Craig.

"Since the last time I was here...he still hasn't cleaned his room?" I asked. Craig laughed again and I watched him carefully to see if he was joking. He wasn't. I laughed along with him for a moment before I went downstairs.

Tyler and I were in the living room watching T.V when Craig came in with his jacket on.

"I'm heading off to work now. I'll see you guys around nine." He said digging through his pockets. I suspected he was looking for his car keys. Tyler did not look away from the T.V when he responded to his father.

"Yeah, see you later." He said, changing the channel to an action movie of some sort. Craig sighed and looked over at me.

"Make sure his brain doesn't rot when I'm gone." He said smiling. I laughed.

"I'll try. It's probably already rotted to death." I said smirking over at Tyler. He didn't seem to hear me at all. I sighed and shook my head. I looked back over at Craig at he was staring disapprovingly at Tyler. He finally turned around and left. I heard the door close behind him and then I smacked Tyler upside the head.

He yelped. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!" He asked angrily. I glared at him. "Your father was talking to you doosh!"

He starred at me for a moment then looked around. He turned back to me and shrugged.

"He's not here anymore." He said turning his attention back to the T.V.

I smacked him on the head again. This time he turned his head and glared at me. "I'm trying to watch TV here." He said, his tone was like stone. It made me flinch a little. I glared back at him. "I'm bored! There's nothing on TV! Let's go do something!" I said sitting up.

Tyler looked at me for a moment then turned back to the TV.

"You go. I want to stay here." He said. I gave him a look.

"There's no one here I know yet! You have to come!" I said. He didn't seem to be moving from his spot even after I gave him a good explanation. With a sigh, I sat back down. To annoy him; I placed my feet on his lap. He looked down at them then looked over toward me. I just glared at him. He turned back to my feet. He picked up my left foot and starred at it. I gave him a quizzical look. Soon, he began to smirk and then he tickled it.

I began to laugh in agony. I squirmed around but that didn't stop him.

"Tyler! Please - stop!" I cried but that only seemed to make him laugh more. The door bell rang and he finally stopped. I took a deep breath and then turned toward Tyler. He was smiling the entire time when he stood up and went to the door.

While he was talking to who ever it was I sat on the couch thinking of what I could do. I finally came up with something and jumped off the couch. I ran around the couch and headed up the stairs. I could feel eyes on me when I ran up and almost slipped. I ran through my room and searched my bag. I found a black bikini top with a skull on it but, I couldn't find the bottoms for them. Then I heard Tyler call from downstairs.

"Irina, What are you doing?!" He yelled. I ran out of my room and headed up another set of stairs that led up to Tyler's room. When I got up the stairs I looked around.

For some reason, Tyler wanted his room up in the attic. Craig said it was okay of course but I guessed it was because it was bigger then the other rooms. I ran to his dresser and searched it. I felt weird going through someone's clothes, but it wasn't like I was searching for under wear. Which I certainly wasn't.

When I finally found what I was looking for I smiled. I was looking for a pair of Tyler's swim trucks and found a black pair. Before he could come up to look for me, I quickly changed and ran back to the stairs with my clothes in my hand.

I laid my clothes on my bed and ran into the bathroom that was attached to it. I pulled out a white towel and headed back down stairs.

I ran down the stairs as fast as I could and almost tripped. When I made it to the bottom I made a quick turn for the back door. I ran on the spot for a moment then I heard Tyler call out to me.

"What are you doing with my shorts?! Get back here!" He yelled.

I turned and saw him chasing after me I spoke up in defence. "I'm only going swimming! Since you won't do anything with me, and I couldn't find my bottoms! So I just borrowed a pair of yours! No harm done!"

I heard him hiss. I tripped a little when I heard him do that. I had to re think and check if I wasn't just losing my mind. But he really did. My cousin hissed at me.

I swung the back door open and ran toward the pool. I could tell that Tyler was catching up to me. If I could just get to the pool, there would be no reason for him to chase after me.

I was about two feet away from the pool when I jumped. Water soon consumed me and I swam to the other end. When I came back up I saw Tyler glaring at me. I smiled back at him and stuck my tongue out childishly. I could see about three figures behind him and soon they appeared. There were three boys one with chestnut brown curly hair, another had dirty blonde curly hair and the last one and long straight brown hair. They were all staring at me as I swam around the pool.

"Well I don't think you'll want them back now that there no use to you." I said swimming to the other side of the pool.

I heard a couple splashes and I looked up. I saw the three boys had jumped in but I didn't see Tyler. I looked back over to them and saw them smiling at me.

"You're not the only one that's gonna have fun!" Said the blonde one. The other two laughed. I looked at them for another second before speaking up.

"Who are you?"

They sighed and shook their head. "We should've known that Tyler wasn't gonna say anything about us. My name's Cory Mackenzie. This is Ryan Millers – he pointed to the blonde curly hair boy – "and this is Max Duggeri – he pointed to the boy with straight brown hair.

They smiled and waved at me and I returned the gesture. I felt a tug on my leg but brushed it off like it was nothing. I felt another tug but this one was harder. So hard, that it pulled me under. Under water, I looked around to see who had done it but I could already guess who it was. Tyler was at the far end of the pool sticky his tongue at me. I couldn't see very well because of the water.

I resurfaced and took a gasp of air. I looked around for Tyler and saw him laughing and pointing his index finger at me.

I growled. "Tyler, what did you do that for?!"

He stopped laughing and swam over toward me. "It's obviouse isn't it? You took my swim shorts. My favorite ones at that."

I sighed. "I'll give themn back, don't worry. Until then...lets have some fun!" I shouted and splashed water in his face.

"Hey!"

We splashed water in eacho other's face and splaseh water at Cory, Ryan and Max. They seemed to have been enjoying themselves a lot. They even lifted me up and threw me across the pool! They were all pretty strong to do something like that.

After two hours of playing in the pool, Cory, Max, and Ryan were on the deck playing a game of cards while me and Tyler floated around the pool. We bopped heads once in a while but not hard enough for us to start a fight over it.

"Well now what? It's too early to go to bed." I said before bopping heads with Tyler again. He sighed and turned to float the other way.

"I don't know. Do what you want." He said.

I was quiet for a moment then an idea popped into my head. I swum to the edge of the pool and pulled myself out. I grabbed the towel that I had lied on one of the chairs and dried myself off.

"I'm gonna go ride my bike. Is that okay?" I asked as I pulled on a white haluter top. Tyler nodded. "Yea sure. He'll be back by nine remember." He said swimming up to the edge of the pool and folded his arms on it.

I nodded my head and walked over to the garage. I opened the door and walked over to my bike. I sat on it and sighed with happpiness. It had been a long time since i rode this thing and I was happy to ride it again.

It roared to life and soon a was speeding off. Not darring to look behind me.

**Later That Day**

I was riding on a dirt path when I heard my Cell phone ring. I slowed my bike down and reached into my pocket to get it. I flipped it open and answerd.

"Hello?" I said over the engine of the bike. "Where are you?! It's almost nine you idiot!" It was Tyler. He didn't sound very happy by the sound of it. I looked at the clock on my bike. It said 8:46. I cursed.

"Sorry Tyler! I didn't know! I totally forgot about the time! I was having so much! Sorry!" I said turning the bike around. I heard Tyler sigh.

"It's okay I guess..as long as you're coming home now I guess." I heard him say. I started to speed up on my bike when I noticed how far away from home I was.

"Where are you anyway?" Tyler asked. I thought for a moment, not really remembering where I was.

"The last sign I saw said Evergreen Road. Why do you ask?" I said looking aorund for the turn off I passed only a few minutes ago. Tyler's end of the phone was silent. I called out to him three times beofre he answered me.

"Get out of there now. Drive as fast as you can." He said. Tyler sounded like he was choking on his words It made me wonder why.

"What's so wrong about-"

I could not finish my sentence. I heard a screeching of tires and soon a flash of light was all I could see. When I crashed into what ever it was, pain was all I could feel. I could tell that I flew off my bike when I felt the cold concrete. I couldn't move my legs at all. The thought of them broken crossed my mind but when I tried again to move them it wasn't enough for me to stand up and walk away like it was nothing. The phone was still in my hand and I could hear Tyler screaming my name. My eyes were closed and my throat had something in it that stopped me from speaking to Tyler. Telling him that I was okay.

I obviously wasn't


	3. The Great Escape & The Wonderful Mother

I heard a voice. They were echoing but I could still hear them. After a while I heard the clearly and slowly opened my eyes. It was bright in the room I was in. I closed my eyes again and waited. I opened them again and this time I could stand the annoying brightness.

There was a man standing at the end of the bed I was laying in and reading something on a clipboard. When he heard me moan from pain he looked up. I got a full glance at him and gasped. The man before me could only be maybe in hisearly thirtys and he was gorgeous. He had Dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. His skin was pale white and underneith his eyes where heavy dark looking bags, obviously he wasn't getting much sleep.

He walked around the bed to stand next to me. I stared at him in wonder as he set the clipboard down and sat on the bed that was across from mine. He folded his arms in his lap and stared at me intently.

"Hello Miss. Thomas, it's good to see your finally awake. You gave us quite the scare." The man said, his voice was like a lullaby so I had to sit up just in case it made me fall asleep.

He noticed me trying to sit up so he got up and helped me. When his hand went under my arm, I shivered. His hands were icy cold. When I was leaning against the pillow, he stood back and sat back down on the bed.

I looked around me and noticed I was in a hospital. I looked down and saw my hand bandaged with gauz. I rolled my shirt up and saw that my arm was bandaged all the way up to my elbow. I removed the blankets and saw that my legs were also bandaged. I looked back up at the man in shock.

Hew seemed to notice my panic. "You're alright. You were in a car accident. You've been asleep for about three days now." He said.

I stared at him for a long time. I tried to speak but my throat was dry. I gestured toward my throat and the man understood what I was trying to say. He got up and walked over to the end of the room where the exit was. He poured a cup of water for me and wlaked back with it.

I took it from his hands and drank it in one whole glup. When I was done, a lyied it next to the table by the bed and cleared my throat.

"Where's my Uncle?" I asked.

The man smiled. "Criag has been coming in checking on you from time to time even though he has other pateints. He'll back very soon." He said sitting back down.

"Oh"

I sat quietly for a moment and fidled with my hands. I looked back up and saw the man starring at me. I quickly looked back down; this time staring at me feet under the blankets.

"My name is Dr. Marcus Lyndon." He said. I quickly looked up the last name 'Lyndon' coming to mind.

"Are you related to Benjamin Lyndon?" I asked suddenly. He smiled and nodded.

"Indeed. He is my son. Have you met him already?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yes I have. He seemed like a very nice boy." I said complimenting his son. He smiled. "That's good to hear."

There was a knock on the door and Dr. Lyndon walked toward it. When he opened the door, A boy with short croped hair and chestnut colored eyes was standing at the door. I was confused as to why a boy I had never met was at my hospital door. Dr. Lyndon stood aside and let the boy in. When he was standing in front of my bed Dr. Lyndon came up behind him.

"Irina, this is Shane Lawrince. He was the one that crashed into you." Dr. Lyndon said trying to make it sound casual.

Nothing casual about it at all.

I stared at the boy who had rammed into me and my bike. There wasn't a scratch on him. None what so ever. I turned my gaze toward Dr. Lyndon and gave him a questioning look.

"How come he isn't as banged up as I am?" I asked pointing a figure at him. Shane laughed a little.

"You should have seen me when on the first day. I got a killer black eye, concusion, and a big gash on my leg." He said smiling. How could you smile at something like that?

"I see." I said quietly.

I sat quietly in your hospital bed and fidled with them bankets. I wondered where my Uncle was and Tyler also. The next time I saw Tyler, I know I'm going to get yelled at. I thought about how bad my bike must be until I thought of something important.

"When can I leave?" I asked looking up at Dr. Lyndon.

"Tyler is at school right now. Your uncle is coming down here now so it's really all up to him."

On que as though he was waiting to be called into the room, my uncle swung the door open to my room and stared toward me. His eyes never moved from mine when he spoke to Dr. Lyndon.

"How is she? Is she stable? Irina, are you dizzy? How many fingers in my holding up?" He threw questions toward me and Dr. Lyndon. I watched as Craig forgot about the questions he asked toward me and turned to Dr. Lyndon.

"How is the cuncussion? Her leg? What about the injury on her stomach?" He asked desperatly toward the other doctor. He placed his hand down on my uncles shoulder and smiled.

"Don't worry. She's absalutely fine. You acted more like a mother than a father you know." Dr. Lyndon said patting his fellow doctor before droping his hand to the side.

It finally clicked into me. "My stomach? What's wrong with my stomach?!" I shouted. Before anyone could answer me, I lifted my shirt up until my chest began and stared in awe. My stomach had been wrapped with gauze from top to bottom. I looked up at the doctors in pure shock. Shane had turned away due to the fact that he was close to being flashed. I realized what I had done and quickly dropped my hospital shirt back down.

"A piece of your bike went through you. Your lucky that shane saw the cell phone in your hand and dialed 911 or you could have died from bloodloss.

I shivered. The thought of dieing made me scared. I didn't know I was that close to death. I shivered again. Craig came to stand next to me and smiled.

"Don't worry Irina. Your fine now so don't worry." He turned back to Dr. Lyndon and took the clipboard away from him. He examined it carefully then looked toward me.

"You will be able to leave tomorrow. But you'll have to take the rest of the school week off for that injury to heal." My uncle said. The smile you had was officaly gone and you groaned.

"What? Can't I go home now? I fell fine." I asked begning to pull the sheets off. Craig stopped me and pushed me gently back into the bed.

"I would much rather you to stay here one more day. You were alseep the entire time we ran test on you so now we have to run them when your awake. We need to check if the nerves are working properly." You Uncle said his doctor switch turning on.

I sighed and lied back down on the bed. Another knock on the door came and Dr. Lundon opened it. There stood a beautiful woman smiling at Dr. Lyndon. She caught me starring at her and smiled. She walked passed Dr. Lyndon and came over to me.

"Hello Irina, my names Cynthia Lyndon. It's nice to finally meet you." The woman said. She had long wavy black hair, and bright green eyes. Along with the Lyndon family, she also was pale and had deep dark bags under her eyes. None the less she was much prettier then a supermodel.

"It's nice to meet you too. Are you Benjamin's mother?" I asked. Cynthia laughed and nodded. "Yes I am. He's been nice to you right? Has Desmond been nice to you also?" She asked.

"Benjamin has been very nice. Though I only met him once. I haven't met your son Desmond yet." I said, fixing the way I have been sitting.

She continued to smile. "Be sure he doesn't fool you. He's a good boy, but he knows how to stretch the truth every once in a while.

I laughed and nodded. "Your son reminds me of Tyler than." Cynthia also laughed. She turned to the men who were watching us and stood up. She stared them down with a stare that I thought someone as kind hearted and easy going could never pull.

"It's our girl time. I would like to chat with her alone please." She said smiling ever so slightly. I shivered. I don't ever want to get on Cynthia's bad side. The boys quickly darted out of the room leaving me and Cynthia alone.

She turned to me and she was smiling normally again.

"I can tell you don't like it here. How about we brake the rules just this once and I check you out of here to go home?" She asked smiling down on me. She looked like she was glowing.

I stared at her in awe. This women is practicaly a queen like figure when you first see her. Once you get to know her, she's braking rules and glaring men down like she's ten times bigger than them yet she's so tiny.

"You're a Lyndon right? All the Lyndon's I've met so far are very calm and collected. You're no where near that." I said slipping out of the bed. She smiled anyhow and giggled.

"I'm the kind of woman that enjoys braking the rules. Now let's hurry before they notice what I'm planning" She said putting her fingers to her lips. She handed me a pair of clothes and I headed into the bathroom. I quickly changed and looked in the mirror. I was wearing a white blouce and a pair of deep blue jeans. I saw my accesories that I was wearing and quickly threw them on. I didn't like wearing necklaces but I enjoyed weraing rings and braclets. I had a charm braclet on my left wrist along with simple black band like ring. On my other hand I had a black wrist band that had the element sign on it.

I opened the door and Cynthia smiled.

"You dress like a girl but you wear the accesories of a boy. I like your style though. Here's your shoes." She said handing me the skater shoes. I quickly slipped them on and looked up at her.

"Let's go!"

† †

I was smiling like a child sticking my head out of Cynthia's car window waving hello to everyone. Cynthia had the radio cranked up so music was blaring out the windows. When we drove by teenagers the would give thumbs up toward the car or wave like crazy monkeys.

I pulled my head back into the car and smiled over toward Cynthia.

"Thanks for getting me outta there Cynthia. I hate hospitals." I said as I watched the speed-o-meter begin to rise.

"No problem. I don't like hospitals either. I shiver at the thought of gettin a needle." She said litteraly shivering. I laughed.

We came to a stoplight and I popped my head out the window again. I shouted out a 'woohoo' and some people actually 'woohood 'back. Another car pulled up beside us but I ignored it. It wasn't until I felt someone'sgaze on me coming from that direction did I turn to look.

A boy with long shaggy black hair was starring at me. His eyes were a shade of ocean blue and undernieth his eyes were dark purpleish bags. His complection was clear. All in all, he was gorgeous.

The boy continued to stare at me even though I caught him starring. When I notcied he didn't intend on looking away I stuck my tung out at him childishly and waved goodbye as Cynthia drove away.

I turned back toward Cynthia and she was smiling at me. I gave her a questioning look.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked beginning to look at the mirror for anything. She shook her head.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Oh, were here."

I looked up and indeed we were at my house. There was no car in the drive way. Tyler wasn't home from school then. I was about to step out of the car when Cynthia grabbed my wirst. Her cold touch made me flinch.

Ì heard about you mother. I`m really sorry. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can come to me." She smiled slightly, "You could think of me as another mom. I don't want to replace yours."

I stared at Cynthia in shock. I slowly sat back down in the car and continued to stare.

"Are..are you serious?" I asked. She looked down and let go of my wrist. She folded her hands in her lap and continued to stare down.

"I was also in a terrible accident like you. I didn't make it out very well though. I was pregnant at the time and when I was hit, I survived but my beautiful baby died." She said.

I stared at her in shock. She lost her baby? How could someone live like that? If my baby had died, I don't know i I could ever go on living a normal life knowing that my child died before actually living.

"When they told me my baby died, I was so sad. Marcus said that we'll have a new one when were ready again. But the doctor said I couldn't anymore. The damage was to much and it caused me to not have anymore childeren."

"So, Benjamin...is adopted?" I asked. She nodded slowly.

"I love this childeren so much. It makes me sad that they're growning up. I would love to have more." She looked up at me and smiled. "Anytime you need someone to talk to, I'll be here so don't be shy."

What I had done next shocked me and Cynthia. I had wrapped my hands around her neck and patted her back. She realized I was trying to comfort her so she returned the favor.

"Thank you Cynthia, and don't worry..." I pulled away from her and and gave her a warm smile. "I'll be your new daughter. You seem to have to many boys around you." I said laughing a little. Cynthia laughed also.

"I do have a girl but she'll be graduating this year and leaving to go to collage. Maybe it will be nice to have a new kid running around." She said laughing. I laughed along with her until I thought it was time to get out.

"Thanks for sneaking me out. You won't get in trouble will you?"

Cynthia laughed. "Oh no, Marcus probably saw this coming. He just didn't have the guts to try to stop me. Well, I see you later Irina! Bye!" She said before pulling out of the driveway. I watched as she drove off the street before heading inside my house.

"I wouldn't want to defye Cynthia either. Who knows what would happen. She is one protective mother." I said before unlocking the door to my house and walking in.


	4. The Greek God

At the Hospital

Dr. Lyndon walked down the hall while looking through medical papers in his hands. He heard voices call out to him while he was turning down another hall. He turned to come into view with his son and friends.

"Desmond! It's nice to see you here. Is there something wrong?" He asked looking from boy to boy. The boy Desmond shook his head.

"No, this group behind me needed a drive to the hospital to visit someone." He said pointing his thumb behind him while sighing. Dr. Lyndon looked behind Desmond to get a better look at the group. Cory, Ryan, Max, and Tyler were behind him smiling and waving like the goof balls they were. Dr. Lyndon knew them so well because of all the four wheeler accidents every summer brake.

"Come to see Irina huh? Alright this way." He said gesturing them to follow. You continued your way down the hall until you came to Irina's room. He stepped away from the door and smiled at the group.

"Take it easy on her, she's still tired." He said before turning around and leaving the group. Tyler waited until he was gone around the corner before swinging the door open.

"Irina! We heard you were awake and came to see you!" Tyler said, swinging his arms around and run into the pale white room. When he heard no response he looked around the room. No one was in the bed. He looked in the bathroom. No one there. He went back over to the group of boys with a worried look.

"Where's Irina?"

"What did you just say?!"

Tyler looked behind his friends and saw his father. His jaw was gaped open and all the papers he had in his hand were scattered on the floor. Tyler's father pushed the boys away to get into the room.

"Isn't the patient supposed to be in bed?" Cory asked while placing one of his hands under his chin in a thinking position. Max and Ryan nodded their head in agreement and moving out of the way so Tyler's father could get through.

He walked across the hall to the phone. He took the receiver and began to dial numbers. Everyone was silent until Craig began to screech on the phone and the secretary.

"Bring Dr. Lyndon up to room 302! Right now!" He demanded. You heard a muffle from the lady at the desk before the line went dead. No sooner then three minutes later, Dr. Lyndon came around the corner with a panicked look on his face.

"What's wrong?! Is there something wrong with Irina?!"

"Yeah, there is! She's not in her room!" Craig shouted. Peoples' doors began to open to see what the commotion was. Nurses down the hall were even stopping to look.

"What are you talking about?! She was there before we left her with-"

Dr. Lyndon suddenly stopped. It was as if he realized where she had gone. He sighed in agitation and pulled his cellphone out. He dialed a number and it rang three times before a female voice answered it.

"Cynthia.... do you mind telling me where you took Irina?" He asked with an angry smile plastered on his face. It was silent again as Dr. Lyndon listened to his wife. Then he sighed and spoke,

"Cynthia, you can't go and take patients out from the hospital. You can get into big trouble for that." He said and listened to what Cynthia had to say.

"Oh! You only took her home! Okay then.... yes I'll be home around five.... okay goodbye....I know you are and I love you too." And then he hung up.

He looked up to see worried gazes. Mostly from Craig but that was just Craig. He was always worried about his patients suddenly disappearing. Especially when his family does.

"She back at home. She dropped her about fifteen minutes ago." He said and Craig sighed with relief and slid down to the ground against a wall. "That scared me."

Tyler folded his arms. "Please, if Irina and I went cliff diving you'd probably take a seizure." Tyler laughed to himself as he imagined Craig taking a seizure.

Not funny at all.

Desmond turned to Tyler with his eyebrows furrowed. "Your one sick twisted Teenager." Tyler shrugged his shoulder and headed for the exit. "What ever floats your boat. I'm going home if Irina's there then. Drive me home Desmond!" Tyler ordered.

Desmond sighed to himself as the other three boys ran ahead. "We wanna see Irina too! I wanna poke and laugh at her!" Ryan said smirking devilishly.

"For the love of god don't poke her!" Craig called out as the group of boys left the hospital.

At Home

I closed the door behind me and walked into the kitchen. Hunger had overwhelmed me once I walked into the kitchen. I opened the fridge door and pulled out a bowl of strawberries. I smiled to myself, strawberries were my favorite fruit. Tyler and Craig must have remember all the times when I would come down that they had to have strawberries in the fridge. I pulled out a coke can also and headed into the living room.

I sat down on the couch and turned the television on. As I flicked through the channels, I would take a bite out of a strawberry and then a drink. My favorite movie was on and I smiled. 300 was an awesome movie, no matter how many times Tyler had told me it sucked.

I heard the door open but didn't move. My favorite part was coming up and I couldn't pause it. Asinos was about to get decapitated when suddenly I was pushed to the ground and being squeezed to death.

"What the hell?! Get off me! The best part of the movie is on! Ow! That hurts!" I cried out. Finally the heavy weight was gone and I was starring up into the bright hyper eyes of Ryan.

He began to laugh and help me up. "I have never met a girl who like seeing peoples head getting chopped off. You officially my best friend." He grinning widely. I grinned also and looked over his shoulder. Tyler was standing there with his arms folded and Cory and Max standing next to him. A boy I have never meat before appeared into the room and my jaw almost dropped.

This boy was much more handsome then Benjamin. Benjamin had a childish look and this boy had the face of a Greek god. He was pale also and had dark circles under his icy blue eyes. His hair was as if he were related to the shaggy dog yet for some reason it fit him. His long auburn colored hair went to his jaw and it was slightly parted so he could see.

His body type was incredible. I could see the muscles thought his white button up shirt. I flinched also. This Greek god was wearing the same shirt as I was! I quickly pushed that aside, thinking that what I was thinking was written on my face.

I saw this boy from somewhere. But where.... Oh! When Cynthia was taking me home! A boy was starring at me! That was him!

I suddenly pointed my finger at him and shouted, "You were the boy that was starring at me in the car!"

The boy smirked. I almost began to shake when he looked more like an angel. He folded his arms around his well built chest and looked at me with his deep blue eyes. They looked as if they were filled with secrets.

"Yeah, and you were the girl who decided to act like a six year old and stick their tongue out at me." That time I flinched. I knew I acted childish but he didn't have to go and point it out. Right away I knew I wasn't going to get along with this boy.

I folded my arms also and glared. This seemed to take him of guard but he quickly covered it as if he decided to move and sit on the couch. I smirked.

"Well at least I'm not some creepy dude who goes and stares at women. You must have been plotting something. Sicko."

"Might I ask what exactly would I plot?" He asked formally. "Your not very appealing. I've seen better."

Did he just call me unattractive? I gaped at him. A slight pink came across my cheeks as I stared at him. He seemed to have noticed and smirked. I growled slightly as I stomped passed him. I felt Cory, Max and Ryan's gaze on me as I headed into the kitchen. I heard Tyler laugh slightly.

"Now you've done it."

"Done wha-"

I came back with relish and prune juice. I squirted the relished into the boy's face and while he was disoriented from that moved in closer to him and grabbed his jaw. I force fed him the prune juice until the entire jug was empty. I moved away to let this joke of a god to breathe. He began to wipe the relish from his face and behind him the group of boys were laughing.

"Your not so appealing now either." I pulled out a camera and took a picture of him wiping the relish from his face with a disgusted look on his face. The boys seemed to laugh more and the Greek god began to choke.

"That was awesome Irina! I can't wait to tell Benjamin! Man, that was great!" Tyler said giving you a pat in the back. You grinned and looked up at him. "What's the freaks name anyway?" The Greek god seemed to have heard me and glared. Tyler laughed more as relish fell on the floor.

"That my cousin, is Desmond Lyndon."

My eyes widen. "The guy who told me to shut up when I was on the phone with you?" I was still shocked when Tyler nodded. I glared at Desmond and rolled my sleeves up. Tyler seemed to have caught on to what I was doing and moved his arms up under mine and pulled me away.

"What are you doing?! He deserves a beating! Let me go!" I growled. Tyler was snickering as he pulled me further away from him.

"Look, we let you get away with the relish and prune juice"-he began to laugh again- "But your still not in the best condition to beat the snot out of someone."

I sighed angrily and went limp in his hold. He slowly let me go and went into the bathroom. He came out with a wet cloth and handed it to Desmond. I heard him muffle a thank you and then start to wipe is face away. When he was finished he went and placed the dirty cloth into the hamper.

I had to remember to burn that later.

I sat down on the couch next to Tyler and sadly, Desmond sat next to me. The other three took over the floor and spread out. As we all sat there staring blankly at the movie, I sighed and stood up.

"Are you guys staying the night? I looked over at Cory, Max, and Ryan. They quickly nodded and they pulled their cellphones out to call their parents. To be polite, I turned to Desmond but this time I had a glare. "Are you?"

He was slient for a moment the gave me a crooked grin. I almost fainted at how gorgeous he looked. I mentally shook my head and listened for his answer.

"Of course. It should be very fun." He said leaning back in the couch. I nodded slowly and turned to see that Max, Ryan, and Cory were half way out the door. "Come on Desmond! You gotta drive us home to get our stuff!" Max said grinning over at his friend. Desmond stood fluently to his feet and practically floated over to the door.

"We'll be back around seven! Until then- Bye bye my new best friend!" Ryan shouted out. He was still waving when Desmond slammed the door in his face. I laughed and turned toward Tyler.

"What a funny bunch." I said taking a seat on the couch next to him. He laughed also. "That's why their my friends. Life just a bit more fun with them."

We sat there for a moment. Then I stood up suddenly and ran to the garage door. "Is my bike there? How badly damaged is it?" I asked. As I was about to turn the nob, a hand wrapped around my waist and lifted me up on their shoulder. I turned to look down at Tyler and glare.

"Hey, I wanna see my bike!" I started to punch his back. It seemed to have no effect on him as he continued in the kitchen. "Why don't you make something for us all? Their all bound to be hungry when the come back. I'll help you."

I sighed knowing I wasn't going to win this. When he wasn't looking is when I would go and check on my bike. Obviously it was in bad damage.

Tyler set me down in the kitchen. We both looked around to see if there was anything we could make. I pulled out cheese, salsa, and tortillas and turned to see that Tyler pulled out french fries. We both stared at what we hand in our hand for a while.

"Both." We said together.

I trudged over to the stove and turned it onto four hundred and fifty Fahrenheit. I put the fries onto a pan and it into the oven. I saw Tyler had started on shredding some cheese so I took the back of tortillas and put the onto a large plate. I looked over and saw that Tyler was nearly done a block of cheese. I pulled the salsa over toward us and waited for Tyler to be done shredding the cheese and put it on top of the chips. Then I placed a few spoon fulls on top of the cheese. This time I helped Tyler shred the cheese.

"We used to love this snack when we were kids." Tyler said smiling slightly into the cheese. I laughed a little and continued to grate the cheese. The door suddenly swings open and in storms the trio and the Greek god.

"Whatcha cookin'?!" Ryan shouts in my ear. When Tyler noticed me rubbing my ear, he left and answered for me. "Nachos and fries. I think you blew Irina's eardrum." He said grinning mischievously.

"Sorry! Were seriously having nachos?! Awesome!" Ryan said forgetting about the whole almost deafening me situation not even a minute ago.

"I don't like Nachos"

"Then don't eat them." I snapped at Desmond. From the corner of my I saw his eyebrow twitch at me. I turned to put the cheese and salsa back into the fridge, silently smirking to myself. I turned back around and my pleasure of getting Desmond angry was gone. I saw the four boys sitting on the couch talking and I smiled.

Now was my chance.

While they were talking, I crept behind the couch and headed to the garage door. When I was sure none of them were looking I twisted the door knob and walked into the Garage. I closed the door behind me and looked around for my bike. I caught something was hidden underneath a dirty old sheet and tip-toed toward it. I grabbed onto the sheet and before I tore it off I made sure no one was coming.

I screamed in such angony that I was so sure that the people who lived in Germany could here me because in the living room I heared several thumps hit the floor and loud footsteps come to the door. They swung it open and they saw me staring at 'it'.


	5. Alone Time With the Greek God

As I continued to scream, a hand covered my eyes and another grabbed my waist. I felt myself being dragged into a room and be seated into a chair. When I opened my eyes, I was in the Kitchen and the guys were all staring down at me.

"Tha-that...w-was my...my bike..." I didn't realize until now that I was trembling. I started to take deep breaths to clam myself.

"I told you you didn't want to see it." Tyler said taking a seat next to you and patting you back. Cory, Max, and Ryan took seats from the table and sat in front of me. Desmond took a seat on the other side and I tried to avoid starring at him like a mind bottling freak.

"You shouldn't worry about it anyway, Shane said that he would fix it for you so no worries." Max said giving me a toothy smile.

I gave him a confused look and looked around. "You know Shane?"

"Oh yeah, Shinn goise to our school. He's a year older than us though. He'll be graduating this year." Cory said leaning back in his chair. Max and Ryan continued to smile as they watched my expressions change. I turned to look at Tyler, his expression was hard and I couldn't tell what was going on in his mind. I turned to take in Desmond's expression and also careful not to look him in the eyes. I would probably get lost in them again.

He had the same expression as Tyler. Un-reading. It was rather annoying how nobody was telling me things. I sighed and turned back to the crazy trio.

"Shane's a mechanic? That's pretty cool." I said slightly leaning forward in my seat. I heard Tyler scoff but I ignored him and payed attention to Max.

"Yeah, and he's pretty damn good at it. He's rich and all so he goes and buys parts to build the cars. Some of the cars he comes to school in are awesome. You wouldn't think he build them."

I began to smile. "So, he'll fix my bike?" Max, Cory, and Ryan nodded. "It's the only way he can repay you for crashing."

"I don't know, maybe I should pay him if he does fix it."

Max shook his head. "No, he wants to fix it. Leave him be so he doesn't go into depression."

I stared at him quizzically. "Depressed? What's that supposed to mean?"

Cory, Max, and Ryan laughed a little. "He's a real softy. People can easily hurt his feelings. But, that's another way for him to get the girls. Lucky bastard." Cory mumbled that last part.

I finally gave up on that conversation and went straight to a new one. "So, what do you guys wanna do?"

Max sprung out from his chair and ran down the hall. When he came back, he was still grinning and he was holding a box. I looked at the box. The writing on it said, 'Twister'. I began to smirk.

"Are you sure about that game? I'll kick your ass in it." I said leaning back in my chair. Max began to smirk also.

"We'll just see about that. That's what they all say at first."

Later On

Max, Ryan, and Cory had lost. It was only me, Tyler, and Desmond left. I knew it would be a challenge trying to beat tyler in this but I didn't know Desmond was this good. Right now I was on left hand green, right hand on yellow, left leg on yellow and right leg red. Boy oh boy, did it ever hurt! Tyler and desmond were practicly wrapped around me in their positions. Right now it was Tyler's turn.

"Okay Tyler, left leg on blue." Cory said while the other two laughed at our pain of the game.

In order for Tyler to get a blue, he had to either go under or over me. This is was quite stressful. He began to move his leg from under Desmond and move toward me. All of a sudden Tyler fell. Desmond wabbeled but he didn't fall. Tyler curse and got up off the mat. It was only Desmond and I now.

"Heh, and then were were two." I said while smirking. Desmond glared and turned to Cory who had the spinner.

"Spit it." He said. "I wanna beat her already."

I scoffed. "Good luck pretty boy!" Desmond's glared harden and waited. Finally Cory spoke, "Alright, right hand on green"

Desmond reached over me and placed his hand on green. My eyes widened. This position was officially uncomfortable. Desmond's right hand green move had made the worse position alive. His body was practically pressed against me and our noses were touching. I stared at Desmond for a long time. His expression was almost as shocked as mine. My shocked expression quickly turned into a glare. But sadly, there was a tint of pink on my cheeks.

"What the hell?! You could have chose a different green! Why that one!?" I yelled into his ear. He winced. It was like he just came out of a daze for a moment then he glared right back at me. "All the over greens were too far! I don't like it as much as you do!"

" I doubt it! If you didn't like it you could have picked a different green!" I yelled from the corner of my eye, I saw his arm tremble. He was losing his balance. I turned back to him. "Lose already! Your gonna fall!"

He glared at me. "No way! I won't lose to some random girl like you!"

"It doesn't matter right now! If you fall then-ah!"

So much for trying to tell him before it happened. Desmond's arm gave out and he fell-on top of me. I winced at the feel of his weight crashing down on me. I heard him grunt and then quickly roll over. I was shocked out of my friggen mind. I quickly got up. I pointed a finger at him and glared.

"I told you! You should have given up! Your an idiot!" I said pointing a finger at him.

I heard snickers in the background. I turned and saw everyone laughing besides Desmond and I. I glared daggers toward them.

"_What is so funny?"_ I got attacked by some freak! This isn't a laughing matter!" I said waving my arms around. They only laughed more.

"That's what I hear you say! But your face tells something else!" Max said holding his stomach. Cory and Ryan were still laughing. I looked at them in confusion and then turned to my cousin Tyler.

"Your face is beat red." He said. Not really laughing at this problem. My eyes widen. I touched my cheeks and indeed they were warm. I glared at them and then turned to Desmond. He was still on the floor looking up dazed. He turned to me with a confused expression. I lifted my right leg and slammed it down to where the sun don't shine. I heard him groan in agony and then roll away from me. That got Cory, Max, and Ryan laughing. They were on the floor rolling around. I sighed and sat next to Tyler on the couch.

"Why don't we forget about twister and watch a movie?"

After two hours of watching ten thousand B.C, it ended. Ten Thousand B.C was my second favorite movie. Three Hundred was my first. I turned to say something to Tyler but he was sound asleep on the couch. Cory Max, and Ryan were out for the count too. I sat on the floor next to the couch with nothing left to do. Desmond was next to me on the floor and he was awake also. He was starring at the blank screen like there was something interesting about it. He sat perfectly still.

I began to get annoyed at how still he was. With agitation flowing through me, I shoved Desmond and he fell flat onto his beautiful face. He sprung back up and glared at me. I smiled crookedly and waved.

"Why must you act so rude?"

"Why do you have to be weird?"

He stared at me with a confused expression. "How am I being weird?"

I shrugged. That made his expression turn to confused to annoyed. "You're just sitting there, you don't even move! It's kind of creepy." I said moving away a few inches seeing that he looked .

"That doesn't make me weird. That makes me very coordinated." He said looking the other way.

I didn't say anything after that. I just sat there starring at the floor. I didn't want to go to sleep just yet even though it was one o'clock in the morning.

"Aren't you tired?" He asked. That sure surprised me. I looked over at him.

"Why do you care? I'm just not tired right now. I actually like the night. It's quiet." I said looking out the window this time.

"I do too, it's a lot more quiet than day time. All the cars and the sun beaming down." He said, snickering slightly. I gave him an angry look.

"I tell you something about myself and you laugh? What's up with that? That's being mean." I said looking away from him and up at the stars. He laughed again and crawled over next to me to look out the window also.

"Alright than, I'll let you know something about me." He said crossing his arms over the windowsill. I looked over at him shocked.

"Really?"

"Yeah sure, and you can laugh at me if you want." He said smiling down at you. I quickly nodded and waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath and thought for a moment until he finally thought of something.

"I can play the piano, violin, and guitar." He said.

I stared at him in amazement. I've never knew someone that could play an instrument. I could play the piano too but never really told anyone because I thought it would make me look weird. Tyler would say he could play an instrument but then he would just make boom box sounds. I didn't like rap music either way.

"That's so cool! I want to hear you play the piano! You must be better than me." I said turning toward around to face him fully. He seemed to like that I took an interest to this. "You like classical music?"

"Kind of. I like instrumental music but not classic. I usually listen to heavy metal though."

He seemed surprised at this. "I've never met a girl that liked heavy metal. This is all pretty knew to me. I like heavy metal too."

"Favorite band?"

"Escape the Fate." He said smiling proudly. I smiled and nodded. They were my favorite band also.

"I'm guessing your infatuated with the band singer Craig Mabbott?" His expression was playful but I could somewhat hear agitation in his voice.

"Well, he's good looking and all but, I don't want fame and fortune." I said, looking back up at the stars. I wish I could fly up there and be there with them.

"I see." He said. He looked back up also.

I suddenly began to laugh. Desmond looked at me funny and I shook my head. "What about Marilyn Manson? Are you going to ask me if I like him too?" He seemed to be taken off guard by this.

"No, not really. But now I want to know."

"No way!" I laughed, "He's so weird looking! And he wears makeup!" I said making a 'bleh' sound.

Desmond laughed. His laugh put wedding chimes to shame. Not like I would say that aloud. But I really couldn't deny it. Although I only met Desmond a couple hours ago he knows how to get under someone's skin, But, he is the most Handsome man I have ever seen. I realized I was gawking and quickly looked back at the stars. I yawned and heard Desmond laugh again.

"Tired?"

"Yeah, I'm grabbing a pillow and blanket and sleeping down here. You want one?" I asked standing up and stretching.

"Sure." He said looking back up at the stars. I nodded my head and walked up the stairs. I went to my room and grabbed a blanket and two pillows. I trudged over to the closet where all the blankets were and pulled five simple blankets out. One for each of the boys. I walked back down the stairs and handed Desmond the pillow and blanket.

"Thank you" He said placing his pillow on the clean white carpet. I walked over to Tyler and placed a blanket on him, He stirred in his sleep and then rolled to the side. Max was sleeping up right on the couch next to him. I placed one on him and he continued to snore. Ryan and Cory looked as if the were wrestling each other in their sleep. Cory hand one hand around Ryan's neck and his other pulling on his nose. Ryan was gripping onto Cory's hair and once in a while, his leg would twitch and ram him in the stomach. I placed a blanket on each of them and walked back to my spot.

I sat on the warm carpet and then placed my pillow in a position the would disturb my arm or the bandages on my stomach. I placed the black carefully on my legs. They were still a little sore.

"Does it hurt?" Desmond asked suddenly.

I was about to place my head on my pillow when he asked me that. I nodded my head and placed it on the pillow. I watched as he placed his on his pillow and looked up at the ceiling.

"You should change your bandages before you go to school tomorrow. That's if your uncle will let you." Desmond said, his eyes beginning to droop.

"I will, don't worry." I said. I felt sleep about to take over. Desmond s blurry figure turned to face me.

"I'm just looking out for the new girl. She's got a big day tomorrow." He said. I could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Sure..." I said my words beginning to slur.

Desmond laughed. "Good night Irina."

That was the last thing I heard before I fell alseep.


	6. New School & A Nasty Rumor

Craig never did let me go to school. He woke me up the next day and he had a worry look in his eyes. When I looked down, I saw why he was so worried. My injury from the accident had opened and blood was ever. I saw that the boys were also awake. Ryan, Max, and Cory were hovering over with my uncle while Tyler was in Craig's room looking for his kit. Desmond was no where to be found.

For the two next week I staid home. Craig refused that I left the house until it was healed. So, I sat in the Living room all day and waited for everyone to come home. Max, Cory, and Ryan would come home with Tyler from time to time or a couple hours after Tyler had come home from school they would come home. Tyler would also skip school and hang out with me so I wouldn't be lonely. I thanked him so much when he did too. When he would stay with me we would do nothing but watch movies and eat popcorn.

All the other days when he couldn't skip school left me to myself. Again, I would sit on the couch and watch TV. There was one day when I thought about the accident and how I should have gotten more injuries. But all I had gotten was head trauma, a piece of my bike into the gut and a broken finger. Last time I heard someone got into a bike accident the had more then one broken bone and it wasn't as minor like mine. It made me wonder what exactly hit me.

But, I thought I was being silly thinking that something other than a car hitting me so I tossed my contemplating on being splattered by something else aside and waited for my cousin and his friends to come home. The day would go by so slowly, but, when they came home it flew by _too _quick. I got me annoyed.

I never heard from Desmond after that day. I asked if Tyler had seen him around the school. He told me he did but they never really talked much. Tyler said the he and him were friends but wasn't a friend like Max, Ryan, and Cory. I wondered why because they were getting along so well when he come over. I'd ask him myself when I'm finally allowed to go to school; which would be tomorrow.

"Your stomachs fine now so you can go to school." Craig had said while smiling down at me. He pulled off the gloves he was wearing to check my stomach and into the garbage. I grinned and jumped up off the bed he had set me on.

I was in the Hospital again. This would be my last time going for a long time too. Thank goodness. I was beginning to get tired of the plainness of the color and atmosphere.

"Also, the x-rays we done on your head came back."

I froze. This didn't sound good. I turned slowly toward my Uncle Doctor with a frighten expression. His expression was somewhat blank. It made me more nervous.

"Your tumor has gotten bigger. When was the last time you checked it?" Craig asked me with a now stern expression. I slightly squirmed and looked down at my feet.

"Three years ago." I mumbled.

I heard him sigh. I didn't dare look up at his face. Craig could be scary at times and these were one of those times. He's usually laid back and lets things slide. But when you push him so far he wont accept it. Tyler agrees with me about this one.

"From now on you'll be going in for monthly check ups. Starting now." He said sternly, " Come on, I'll drive you home so you can get ready for school tomorrow."

I nodded and followed him out the door of his giant office. While we walked down the hall I would wave and say hello to the nurses that would walk by. Some of the doctors would come by also and I would greet them with a hello also. I saw Dr. Lyndon and waved to him. He seemed to have seen me and waved back, then went back to his work with what looked like paper work.

When I got home, Tyler and the gang were there. They were either sitting on the couch or sprawled out on the floor. I stared at them for a moment then went straight to my room, not in the mood to deal with them right now.

I got to my room and sat down on the queen sized bed. I laid there and stared up at the ceiling for a minute then sighed and grabbed clothes for a shower. After I was done, I crawled into bed and waited for sleep to consume me.

When I woke u p the next day, I had a migraine. I told Craig about it and he said it was because of the tumor and lack of sleep. When we were eating breakfast, Tyler was watching me. It was a bit nerve racking but Tyler's Tyler. Once he hears something about my tumor he'll keep quiet for a while and watch my every movement. I keep telling him I'm find but, he just nods his head and continues to watch me.

Tyler was driving me to school until I can get my bike fixed and I'm well enough to ride it. He pulled up into the Drive of the school and my eyes widen.

The school was small. But it had a homey feel to it. I liked the city, but I'm a country girl and this is the kind of school I belong in. Small and not as croweded. I got out of the car and walked around to meet with Tyler.

I stared at the school before turning to Tyler with a smile. He smiled back at me and we headed into the small school.

"So what class do you have first?" Tyler asked me as he held the front door open. I pulled my schedule out of my pocket and looked over it.

"I have History, you?" I asked turning to him. He smiled and said, "Computer Technology, love that class."

"Is that the class you told me about where you don't do anything except play computer games?" I asked While searching for my new locker. It's number was 179. I searched as Tyler laughed.

"Yep, and for some reason I keep passing." He said looking around the halls. I suddenly heard someone calling mine and Tyler's name. I turned around and saw Cory, Ryan, and Zack coming toward us like a pack of bulls.

They screeched to a stop when they were only a foot away. I sighed, happy that they didn't crash into me.

"what class do you have Irina?!" Ryan shouted, fairly close to my ear, my migraine hadn't left just yet and he made it so much worse. I didn't speak for a moment. I let the pain slow for a a minute until I spoke.

"History. How about you guys?" I asked looking at them each. Cory snapped his figures and made a 'tch' sound.

"Damn! None of us are in that class!" He said shaking his head in dismay. My stomach suddenly dropped. There wasn't going to be anyone in Calculus that I knew? Great. Just great.

"Don't worry, Shane's in that class. He's been itching to see you anyway." Tyler said, looking away from us and down the hall. He seemed to have an annoyed expression on his face.

"Shane? That's great! I wanted to thank him for wanting to fix my bike." I was now excited to go to class and not have anyone I didn't know. The bell suddenly rang and everyone ran to their classes. History was at the end of the hall. I was glad that Tyler was coming my way. Soon, the history door came into view and I waved goodbye to Tyler. He tapped me on the head and continued on his way. I looked at him strangely before heading into my first class.

When I walked into the room everyone stopped and stared at me. I looked around the room and saw Shane. He began to grin and he waved me over. I was so happy that no one was sitting with him. I wouldn't have to sit by a total stranger and have to try and make friends with them.

I sat down next to Shane and smiled. He grinned at me and began the conversation.

"So you're alive, huh? That's good, when Tyler told me that when a bunch of you had a sleep over and you got hurt, I almost took a stroke." Shane said to me, while gathering his books to move them out of my way.

"Yeah, thanks for offering to fix my bike by the way." I said sitting down and smiling. I looked around the room and saw that almost everyone was starring at me. I shivered slightly and turned back around in my seat.

"So how are you liking it here so far? It's a lot different in the city isn't it?" He said pulling my attention away from the starring.

"Very different. But I always like the country more than the city. Cities are to loud." I told him while pretending to pay attention to the teacher.

He smiled. "That's good to hear."

The rest of the class we sat quietly in our seats. A few times I almost fell asleep but Shane would tap me on the shoulder. I would snap right out of my daze and have my undivided attention to the teacher. Shane would laugh when that happened.

Finally the bell rang and first period was over. My next class was Biology. Another boring subject...

I walked out of the classroom and saw Tyler leaning against the wall most likely waiting for me. I walked toward him and he smiled when he saw me.

"So how was your first class? Probably boring, Mr. Richardson goes on for ever in his lectures." Tyler chuckled.

I laughed. "Yeah, it was boring. I'm glad Shane was sitting next to me though or I would have fallen asleep." Tyler laughed again as we walked down the hall.

"You fell asleep? Nice, on your first day and your making a bad impression."

The Biology room came up and I turned to Tyler. "Do you have this class?" He grinned and nodded right away. "I probably won't be your lab partner though."

"Well that sucks..." I said rather sourly. Tyler laughed.

You both walked into the class together and again all heads turned to you, you sighed and went to take a seat at an empty desk. Tyler walked further behind and sat down one row behind you. You sighed again knowing this would be a long and boring class.

Someone hopped into the seat next to you and you looked up. A girl with long chestnut brown hair with pretty azure blue eyes was smiling at you. You gave her a small smile back in return.

"Hi! My names Marissa! You're Irina right? Tyler's cousin?" She asked tilting her head behind her toward to Tyler. I nodded.

"Well, it's great to meet you! You'll be my lab partner for the rest of the year!" She said grinning toward you. Your smile grew and you nodded.

"That's great."

Marissa smiled and fixed her position in the stool so her entire body was facing you. You notice that she was somewhat bouncing in her seat. You then knew she was one of those happy bubbly people that can make you laugh. Good. You'd need a good laugh every once in a while living with Tyler.

"So will you be sitting with us at lunch?" I didn't quite understand, I gave a questioning look.

"Who else will be there?"

"There will be Tyler, me, Cory, Ryan, Max, Kristal, Benjamin, and Desmond." She said still smiling.

I gave her a surprised look. "Benjamin and Desmond will be there?"

She grinned. "Yep, you know them already right?" I nodded, "But I don't know who this Kristal person is."

"Don't worry, she's really nice." Marissa said turning back toward the front of the class when the teacher walked in.

The class seemed to go by faster than I thought it would have. It was time for lunch now. Tyler, Marissa and I were walking down the hall together talking about random things. When we walked into the cafeteria, people stopped and stared at me when I walked by. I didn't understand, what was so interesting?

That's the girl she's the one that my cousin told me about." That must be my arch enemies cousin from my old school, Emily Hogen.

I saw Cory, Max, and Ryan waving like the idiots they were and smiled. I waved back and hurried over to the table. I then saw Desmond, Benjamin, and a girl who I came to the assumption of being Kristal. I sat down next to Desmond and Tyler sat on the other side of me. Benjamin was sitting across from me. Marissa sat between Benjamin and Kristal. She smiled over at Kristal and started up a conversation right away.

"So how's you day so far Irina? Is it fun?"Benjamin asked while picking at his food. I smiled and nodded.

"It's okay I guess, aside from the fact that I have to be in school." I said while opening my can of orange juice. Benjamin laughed.

"I don't think anyone likes school." He said in a rather tired tone.

"So that's her? The one that-"

"Shhh! Not so loud! She can probably here us!"

"Oh, your right, I still can't believe she would so something like that. That's just sick.."

I began to get worried. Were they talking about me? What had I done? Everyone at the table seemed to have heard also because they began to look around the room. Most of the portion of the students in here would turn there heads toward here then quickly turn back and say something.

I looked over at Tyler. He had an angry expression on his face. I heard a sigh next to me and turned toward Desmond who also looked just as angry.

"Why is everyone staring at me? What's going on?" I whispered toward Desmond. He sighed again and looked up. His eyes were coal black and he looked angier than he did before.

"There's a rumor going around."

I began to get even more worried. "What kind of rumor?"

Desmond was reluctant at first but then he turned to you with a sad expression. It looked like his eyes were screaming out, 'sorry! I didn't want this to happen!'

My phone suddenly started vibrating and I pulled it out. I signaled Desmond to continue. It was a text message. From my father. I flipped my phone open and read the message.

"A rumor about you killing your mother..."

My eyes widened and I began to tremble. Not only because of what was going around but what the text message had said.

'It's all your fault that your mother is dead! You shouldn't be alive!'


	7. Left With More and More Questions

The table was quiet. I guess they heard when Desmond told me the truth about the grostique rumor. I quickly deleted the text message from my father and put the phone back in my pocket. I could feel the tears in my eyes as I replayed what Desmond had said.

How could I kill my own mother? Who would? I can't believe the people in this school actually believe it. I began to tremble. Do the people at this table believe? So many questions were swarming my head. Too many infact, I wanted to run away.

I slowly stood from my seat at the lunch table and smiled weakly. The tears were still in my eyes.

"I-I'm going to go to class early. See you guys later." And I dashed out of that enormus room with lingering eyes so fast, everyone was a blur.

As I stormed down the hall, I wiped out the feverishly tears. I had Art next. Hopefully it would be a relaxing class other than a class of someone telling you that everything is wrong and you have to do it exactly like the teacher does.

The door was wide open when I walked toward it. There was music playing and a man standing infront of an easel. He was playing the kind of music I liked surprisingly. When I knocked on the door, he spun around and stared at me for a moment then smiled.

"Class doesn't start for another thrity-three minutes. But, I guess you could chill out here." He walked away from his easel and trudged over to the back. He pulled out a clean piece of drawing paper and a perfectly sharpened pencil and lyed it on a desk.

"But in order to be in here, you have to be creating something." He smiled, and walked back to his painting.

I stood by the door for a moment, then walked over to the large table. I placed my bag down on the floor and sat down. I had the pencil in my hand as I stared at the clean paper. I could tell the teacher was watching me also. I looked up at him with heitant eyes.

"Could I use Pastels instead?" He grinned and nodded and pointed toward where they were. "You don't have to ask what to use when making a masterpiece."

I laughed slightly. This teacher was pretty calm and layed back from the ones I already had been aquanted to. I grabbed a pastel contanier and sat back down in my chair. I began to make a wave gesture with a black pastel.

"You don't mind the music do you? Most kids like thr rap kind of stuff. I don't." The teacher asked, Iquickly shook my head.

"I like this music. It's the kind I listen to. Better than rap and hip-hop." I said smiling. The teacher grinned.

"That's good. I'm Mr. Kent, you can just call me Mark if you want."

I smiled. "Nice to meet you, I'm Irina Thomas."

"Oh, I know. Your the buzz of the school at the moment. But for all the wrong reasons."

I sank in my chair. Even the teachers' knew? I hope they don't believe it...

"It's a lie. I would never do that." I said, the tears resurfacing.

"I know it's a lie. I never believed it. I doubt your friends believe it either." The guy said smiling. " If you ever need someone to talk to, you can come here. You can either paint or actually talk."

I smiled. It takes months to gain this kind of trust with teachers and me. But, only five minutes and I made made a father/daughter type relationship with Mr. Kent, or Mark.

I went back to my 'creation', as Mark would call it when I heard another person walk in the room.

"Here again I see! I should just get a spot ready for you for now on!" Mark had said. I never looked up from my creation.

"It's alright. You don't have to get spaces ready for me." A famileur voice said. This time I looked up from my creation.

Desmond smiled slightly over at me as he took a clean piece of paper and a pencil with him toward me. He sat down next to me and smiled.

"Do you have this class next?" He asked as he pulled out a baby blue pastel.

I nodded. "Why? Do you?" Desmond grinned. "Yes." He said simply.

I looked back at my pastel creation. "Are the others in this class?" He shook his head.

"They think art is only for the gifted ones to create. But it never was, it's just a relaxation class." He looked down at my paper. "But apparently, your a gifted one to create fine art."

I blushed slightly. "It's not that good." I said, taking a dark blue pastel and overlaping a turquice color. The overlap made it look like it had a flaming blue wave to it. Desmond watched as I worked on my picture. Then, he started in his and no one talked for a while. It wasn't one of those awkawrd silences with nothing to say, it was a peaceful kind of silence; just enjoying eachothers company.

Then Desmond had to speak.

"So, what was with that text message?"

I put the lime green pastel away and tunred to Desmond. He had a worried expression over his greek god face. When I looked into his eyes, I saw a whirlpool of sadness. It almost consumed me if I had not pulled away my gaze. What had Desmond been through?

"It's just something about that dumb rumor. It doesn't need to be stressed over." I said while taking a sunset yellow out. I put the yellow in the little sopt that i had miss with all the over pastels.

"It was from your father wasn't it." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. I turned to Desmond in shock. How could he know that? I hid my phone away from him! There's noway he could have known that. I whipped my head over to see if mark was looking over here. He was too into his project to be able to listen to us. I turned back to Desmond.

"How do you know that? I didn't tell you!" I hissed, I began to get worried. Did he go through my phone?

"I didn't take your phone." He said, answering my thoughts instead of the questions I really asked. "It was just the look in your eyes that shown some sort of affection before you read the message. Then when you read it you turned pale. I only thought of your dad was because Tyler told us what happened when they vistied you that day."

He seemed to have a very good explanation and his expression was totally plain when he answered. It made me think he was lying. The way how he answered my thoughts raised my assumption too. If he didn't take my phone he wouldn't have said anything about it.

I sighed and tunred back to my pastel creation. It was finished. It looked like a vortex of beautiful colors. If you looked at it more, it also lookes like a flower with no middle. The waves for it were absalutely perfect with the blue waves and red, with green.

"Yeah, it was my dad. He's been saying the same thing as everyone else has. But it doesn't matter. I know thats it's not the truth and people only say it because they want to be apart of something." I finished. Desmond stared at me for a long time. The bell suddenly rang signalling that lunch was over and time to get back to class. I cleaned up my area and Desmond helped to. When I was about to take the pastels back to where they were, Desmond snatched them from me and put them away himself. When he turned around to see my shocked expression he just smiled and shrugged.

Art class went by so fast it was a blur. I had so much fun just sitting down and relaxing. Mark had the raido on the entire time. The rock music was always playing and the other students would beg him to put something else on. He just smiled and shook his head.

My next class was Gym. I was very excited for that because that would mean another fun and free time class. When I walked through the gym doors, I saw everyone there. I grinned. Finally! A Class with everybody!

I ran toward them and smiled. When they saw me, they all cheered. Especially Max, Ryan, and Cory. I didn't have a class with them at all. Now I do.

"Sweetness! The best class ever and it's with everybody!" Max cheered. He scooped me up and gave me a bone crushing hug. I smiled and tried to break free to breathe. But, although Max was one of those small skinny people. You wouldn't think he was so damn strong!

When he put me down, I felt a hand come down on my head. When I looked up, I saw Tyler with a serious expression on his face. I gave him a questioning expression as I looked around everyone. They all had a serios expression.

"We don't believe that dumbass rumor. Don't worry." Tyler said as he removed his hand off my head. I smiled and nodded. I looked around everyone to now see them smiling.

"So, what are we doing? I pumped and ready to go!"

In the end, we went outside for gym and the group of us just took the football and threw it around. To my surprise even Kristal and Marissa played! They seemed to girly when I first met them but, like they say, you cant judge a book by its cover.

Kristal was the one to throw it at me. When she would throw it, it would come in a perfect twirl and I somtimes though I was going to miss it, making it crack me in the head and be down for the count. But I would catch it and she would smile over at me. I would grin I knew right then that me and her would be one of those competive friendships.

After we got bored of throwing th football. We went and did our own thing but still in close range. Marissa and Kristal were kicking a soccer ball around. Max, Ryan, and Cory were strill playing with the football but literally playing football. It looked painful. Desmond and Tyler were glaring at each other as they threw a baseball back and forth. They were throwing it aefully hard, and they would often back up for more distance. It shocked me how far it went.

Benjamin and I were doing something entirly different from sports. We were doing yoga on the nice green grass. It was Benjamin's idea of course but I would have never thought of him coming up with this. It was both relax and somewhat painful.

"So, you do this everyday? Do people do it with you?" I asked as we did some sort of tricked that involved our feet touching our heads while laying on our stomaches.

"Yeah, but, everyone begins to notice how painful it looks and they just watch me instead. I'm glad you volunteered to do it with me." He said smiling as he unfolded himself from that last trick with ease.

"oohh, I'm gonna hurt in the mornin'." I said as I painfully stopped. When I unfolded myself, i sat on the mat Benjamin placed out for him and I. He stared at me with confused eyes. Then I topled over to the side and just layed there. In lots of pain.

"Don't worry, If I do this till I forty eight, I'll be a pro."

That's when Benjamin burts out laughing. I looked over at him surprised as I watched him roll around laughing. I was shocked. He thought that what I said was Histarical!

He laughed for a long time. Some people eve looked over to see if he was okay. I was worried the he wasn't able breathe but, he finally stopped. But he did chuckle every now and then.

"Trust me, for someone who hasn't done this before, your doing very well." He said looking at his watch. "The stuff that me and you had been doing was very high class. You had to be doing it since you were born."

"Whoa, so im guessing you've been doing it since you were born then." I said also looking at the time. Gym would be over in five minutes. We began to roll up the mats.

"haha, yes, you could be saying that I've been doing yoga since I was born." He said laughing slightly. I was guessing in was an inside joke so I didn't ask what was so funny. But, This did leave me with alot of questions.


	8. He's Back and He's Coming

After gym class, it was time to go home. I was so excited to go home and go swimming. It's been a hot day and I had just been dying to jump in.

I got home before Tyler so I decided to change and get a bite to eat. I walked up the staircase and into my room. I went to my closet and pulled out a light blue tank top, then a dark blue tank top to go on top. I went to the denim side of the giant closet and pulled out a pair of shorts. After that, i closed the closet doors and walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

I grabbed the box of strawberries and washed them under the sink. Once that was done, I took them outside and sat them on the table. I sat on the chair and chewed on a strawberry as I gazed up at the sky.

I didn't hear the back door open so when I suddenly felt myself being picked up around my waist, I freaked out. When I was going to look, I was thrown into the pool. I resurfaced that glared at the one who threw me in.

"Tyler, what the hell?! I was just sitting there eating strawberries! What did I ever do to you?!"

Tyler laughed. He pulled off his t-shirt and jumped in. A big splash was made then Tyler resurfaced. He came up next to me and started to swim around me.

"Can't I just have fun with my favorite cousin?" He asked slightly snickering. I glared. "You can't throw your favorite cousin in the pool. It's just not nice."

"Whatever! It was bound to happen anyway!" He said, then splashed me. I made a frustrated growl and splashed him back. This continued for another few minutes until Tyler pulled out the big guns. Literally. He jumped out of the pool and raced into the shed. He came back out with a giant super soaker. I watched him as if he were on some sort of drugs.

"Get ready!"

"I'm already wet! There's no point!" I said sticking my tongue out. Tyler laughed. "So? You're still going to try to move out of the way!" He started to squirt me. Although I was laughing and smiling, it did still annoy me. It annoyed me because he had a super soaker and I didn't.

After Tyler got bored with that, he helped me out of the pool and we dried off. When we went into the house, it was around eight-thirty. I decided to head up to my room and just read a book. Tyler decided to go up to his and practice his guitar.

As I was reading, you could hear Tyler's guitar playing. Though he had only started a couple months ago, he was really good. I sighed and put the book down on the side of me on the bed. I slowly stood up and stretched. I walked over to the Window to the backyard and look out.

The pool was calm and quiet. The shed was still unlocked from when Tyler had went in. I looked over the garage and saw that Craig hadn't come back from work yet. Probably paper work he had to finish.

I turned and looked at the alarm clock. The red numbers red nine forty-eight. It was still pretty early to me but for some reason I was totally wiped. I changed into my pajamas's and turned the reading lamp off.

***

I woke up in the middle of the night to a strange sound outisde my window. I slowly pulled the sheets off me and placed my feet on the cold hardwood floor. When I got over to the window I looked out. I covered my mouth so I couldn't scream.

Outside my window, a man was looking up and watching me. And of course, It scared the living shit out of me. The man was just standing there and looking up at my window. I could see his face because it was so dark out. But, I did see him point at me. I pressed my knuckles to my lips so no one would here my muffled scream. I saw him smile. When he smiled, I saw to pointed fang like teeth boring out.

And I couldn't hold it any longer.

I screamed so loud the whole neighborhood heard. Lights went on in the house and I heard pounding of feet. I took slow, shaky steps away from the window. I was trying to get to the point where I would bump into the bed and just drop down but, my legs weren't co-operating with me so I fell on my butt onto the floor and trembled even more.

"Irina!"

The door swung open. The person walked around the bed and knelt down in front of me. I realized it was Tyler and stared at him with crazed eyes. I heard more feet walk in and knew that it was Craig.

"Irina what's wrong? Are you okay?" Tyler asked desperately, he actually sounded worried.

Craig knelt down in front of me with Tyler and pressed a hand to my forehead. "Your burning up. Did you have a nightmare?" He asked quietly. He started to rub my shoulders comfortingly. I quickly shook my head.

"There-there was somebody outside my window!" I squealed still shaking. Craig's eyes widen and stood up and went toward the window. He looked out it and scanned the entire backyard. Tyler took a spot next to me and placed a arm around my shoulders.

"Do you know what he looked like?" Tyler asked, watching his father slowly look around. I shook my head. "No, It was too dark. But..but I saw fangs! They were from him! He pointed at me and smiled!"

Tyler seemed to have tensed.

Craig turned around with a blank expression. He rubbed his eye and folded his arms on his chest. He said, "Well, whatever you seen is gone. Maybe you were seeing things."

I shook my head. "I'm positive. Shadows don't scare me like that."

Tyler didn't speak and neither did Craig. They just watched as I continued to tremble. I know i didn't just imagine that. I'm not crazy! But, what was it?

"Why don't you stay in my room tonight?" Tyler said. I turned to look at him. "You obviously look like your not going to be able to sleep in here alone tonight."

Craig stared at him. From the expression he was giving him, it looked disapproving. But, he sighed and turned to me.

"It's all up to you, Irina. You can stay in your own room if you want."

I thought about my two options. If I stay in my room, I just might here knocking on my window and the thing would be there. If I stay in Tyler's room tonight, I have a slight chance of _not _getting a creeper at the windowsill.

"I think i'll go in Tyler's room tonight."

Tyler smiled and stood up. He extended a hand for me to take and a gladly took it. My legs were still a little unsteady but I could at least walk. Tyler grabbed my pillow and blanket and raced up the stairs. I turned to Craig to say goodnight then headed up the stairs to Tyler's room.

Tyler already had a spot on the floor for me. I was grateful for Tyler letting me do this but, I felt like a little kid after watching a scary movie. Too scared to go to their own room.

"Thanks a bunch Tyler. I owe you one." I said getting ready to flop down on the floor bed.

"It's okay. I used to do it all the time when I was over your place or you were over mine. Sneak in and stay with you for the night. Remember?" Tyler asked, looking up from where he flopped down on his bed. I laughed and nodded.

"You would always say the dark scared you. But, I didn't understand what you would do when I wasn't visiting." I said smiling. I lied down on my floor bed, or well, you could call it a futon. I looked up at Tyler.

"what would you do when I wasn't around?" I asked turning toward him. Tyler removed his gaze from mine and looked up at the ceiling.

"It's a secret."

"Well that's just plain dirty." I said rolling over, away from Tyler. I heard him laugh and that was it. I fell asleep.

***

The next day, it was the usual. Get up, get ready, go to school. Not many people would stare at me like yesterday and I was happy for that. Maybe people were finally realizing that stupid rumor was fake.

Lunch came. Everyone was sitting at the same table as yesterday. I stared at them for a moment. Desmond noticed me and smiled. It wasn't really one of those friendly smiles, it was...different. He was talking to everyone with a casual smile and happy eyes. When he saw me, his eyes sort of, glazed over and his smile turned serene. It freaked me out sort of.

I blushed and turned away. I went to the canteen to buy my food. I was about to head to the table crowded with my friends but, three girls were in front of me.

One of them was my arch enemy's cousin, Emily Hogen. The two other I had no clue. Emily had her hands on her hips and she glared at me.

"So your Irina Thomas? Tyler's cousin?"

"Yes I am. Is there a problem?" I tried to sound polite. I was also talking this polite so I wouldn't burst a bubble and maybe get into trouble.

"We'd like to talk to you. Outside." Emily said. I sighed. I had a bad feeling of where this was going to go. Any money she was just like her cousin. The chick that thinks she's the ruler of the school.

We walked outside. From the corner of my eye, I saw everyone at my table staring at me. I turned to them and shrugged my shoulders. I lifted up my index finger to signal them '1 minute'. The four of us walked outside, a good distance away from the cafeteria.

"So, who the hell do you think you are?"

I turned to look at them. "Excuse me?"

"You think you can just waltz right into this school and take over?" Emily snapped. I absolutely had no idea what she was getting at.

"Not only that, but you tired to come onto Desmond!" One of her followers had said. "Don't you know that Desmond is Emily's?!" oh, so this is what this is about.

Holy frig this is a riot. This kinda stuff actually happens in real life? I thought it only happened in movies! This Emily chick thinks she can have anything she wants! What a spoiled brat!

"Listen, I get it. You like Desmond. And your jealous that I'm hanging around with him more than you. Also, why would I want to take over a school? If you ask me, I think its pretty dumb."

Emily was fuming. She glared at me with her fists shaking. It was quite funny to watched her burst like a kindergartner.

"Not only Desmond! But Cory, Ryan, and Max! You've been coming on to all the hottest guys in the school! You couldn't with Tyler because he's your cousin!"

"I'm not coming on to anyone! I'm just hanging out with friends!" I shouted back at her.

"Yeah, That's what you probably said to the police when you killed your mother!" She spat.

When she said that, I noticed that there was a crowd around us. They didn't look shocked; they were looking at me as if I deserved it. I don't deserve it though. I didn't do it. I could never do it.

I could never kill my mother. I loved her more then my life.

"Please, don't believe that rumor. I didn't do it. It was all a misunderstanding..." I said about to sink into depression. I clenched onto my food of tray as she continued to talk down.

"Yeah whatever you skank! You killed your mother and you want everyone to feel bad about you so you pretend that you didn't do it!"

_BAM!!!_

My eyes were wide with shock. Not because of that Emily had slapped me. I didn't feel anything what so ever from that-my face only turned to the left-I was shocked from what she said and what people were murmuring around us.

"Good for her." One had said, "She deserves it."

"Sicko."

"Who could do such a thing?"

"I'd be ashamed to be related to her. Poor Tyler."

They're right.

Maybe it was my fault. Maybe, if I had taken my bike to School she would still be alive and I wouldn't be bothering anyone here. Maybe, if destiny was a bit late, I could have died instead of her. That would make me feel ten times better then I do now.

_Vrrr.....Vrrr....Vrrr_

My cellphone. I looked up to see if it was from someone I knew, maybe it was from Tyler or from on of the others telling me to get out of here. Maybe, it was Desmond, telling me that he was coming to help. That made me feel different. An impulse I had never felt before.

Ohh boy was I wrong.

It was from my father. My father had sent me a text message again. I wasn't sure if I wanted to look at it. It was probably something worse then the last time. Although, he was probably drunk when he wrote it too so maybe he didn't mean it. Maybe, this message was saying how sorry he was.

I flipped the cellphone open. Everyone had left by now so I was standing alone by myself.

**I'm coming for you right now. I'll be at the school in five minutes.**

And it probably took the message three minutes to get here.


	9. The Undeniable Truth

I dropped my phone along with my food and ran. Faster then I could ever think I could. I noticed that people were watching as I jumped over tables and trash cans and yelling at me for almost stepping on their food. But I didn't care. I need to run, I needed to leave.

I needed to get away from my father that probably wanted to kill me.

I heard screeching of tires. That made me speed up. Instead of running out the gate way to the school, I ran around the back. Too scared to guess he was around there somewhere. I raced threw the soccer teams practiced and jumped the fence.

I probably had a better advantage if I had went to the school's parking lot and drove my bike out of there I would probably be in a good distance by now instead of behind the school across the street.

I continued to race down the road. Where was I going to go? I couldn't go back to Craig's because that's where he probably would be if he couldn't find me at school. Where oh, where could I go?

_If there's anything you need, just ask_

Cynthia.

I raced to the closet store. When I trampled in, everyone stared at me funny. I was gasping for breath and sweat dripped of my forehead. When I turned to the boy who was running the cash register, he looked slightly startled.

"D-do you have a phone..?" I gasped. He stared at me for a moment then flinched out of his daze.

"Uh...yeah...Down the hall to the left. It's a pay phone. Do you have any coins?" He asked. I was surprised he asked. Though he didn't know me, he sounded like he wanted to help.

Or he wanted me to hurry out of his store and stop scaring his customers.

I reached down in my pocket and pulled out a five. I slapped it on the counter and looked out him.

"Switch it into...coins please?" I panted. He quickly did what I asked him and handed me the coins.

" I hope your okay."

I nodded and jogged over down the hall. I saw the pay phone and smiled. When I slipped the coins into the pay phone. I quickly dialed Cynthia's home phone number. It rang once and the phone was answered.

"Hello?" The voice asked.

"Cynthia! Oh god, Cynthia I'm so glad your home!" I cried. By now, I had gotten my breath back and was speaking without gasping.

"Irina? What's wrong? Are you in trouble?" She asked worriedly. I heard a jingle in the background. Sounded like she had already grabbed the keys and waited for me to answer.

"Yeah, I'm in a bit of trouble. Can you help me? I'll explain why later."

"Of course. I'll come pick you up. Where are you?" She asked, sounding like she was ready to sprint to her fancy car.

"Im at the corner store at the back of school. Cynthia, thank you so much."

"Nothing to worry about. I'm on my way." And the phone hung up. I slowly placed the phone down on it's receiver and walked outo f the store. Murmuring sorry for scaring all the costumers before I left.

I sat on the curb with my arms around myself waiting for Cynthia. When she pulled in, I quickly stood up and hopped into the car. She pretty much didn't stop when I jumped in. She skidded off and my guess was heading back to her home.

"I called Craig if that's alright. He should be at the house waiting by now." Cynthia said, keeping her eyes to the road. I nodded and sniffed.

"So are you going to tell me what's up? I have a feeling your uncle already figured it out."

I turned to look at her. Although her eyes were on the road, I could tell she had most of her attention to me.

"My dad. He uh, he's trying to take me back home." I said, shivering slightly to the hell that would be waiting if I were to go home.

"Craig told me and Marcus that. We were very upset. That's why I told you to ask if you needed anything."

I nodded. I would have been offended and thought that it was pity. But I was too scared that my father would find me to think. I just wanted to hide.

"I think it's time Craig told you." Cynthia said suddenly. I turned to her questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

***

When we got to Cynthia's house. I couldn't believe how big it was. It was bigger than ours! She led me through the front door and into the living room where I took a seat on the couch. Cynthia went into the kitchen. She was in there for a long time talking to someone. If I listened carefully, the other voice sounded like Craig.

And I was Right. Cynthia walked out of the kitchen then Craig followed by Marcus. The all sat on the couch in front of me and stared. Craig sighed and looked down while smothering his face with his hands.

"Craig what's wrong? Do you have a headache?" I asked about to stand up but he quickly lifted his hand and whooshed me off.

"I just don't know how to say this."

"Say what? Craig, what going on?" I asked, beginning to get nervous. Craig sighed and looked up. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"Irina, your adopted."

My eyes were shot wide open. I dropped my head to the floor. I stared at my hands while I felt my stomach squeeze. I felt like I was going to be really of tears were coming and I tried so hard to hold them back. It was the worse thing that could have happened yet. People had blamed me because I had killed my _mother_. I understand now why my adoptive father was so angry with me when his wife died trying to pick me up form school. But, apparently, Craig was waiting for me to finish so he could continue.

"Irina, your not like other people. We're not like other people. We are higher above the food chain then Humans."

That's when my breathing completely stopped. 'Than humans'? What was that supposed to mean? That I'm not human? I don't understand....

"Irina; Along with me, Cynthia, Marcus, their kids and Tyler; were not human. We are more advanced. You probably didn't see any signs because we trained ourselves to be more like humans then what we really are."

I tried piecing things together but it just didn't fit in with me. I didn't understand a thing Craig was saying.

"Your a Vampire. Well, half."

I couldn't speak nor move anymore. I just sat and listened to what Craig had said. I felt my entire body shutting down. I didn't know whether to believe what Craig was saying or just to go along with it for my sanity.

"Your mother was human but your father was Vampire. Your mother died giving birth to you. Your father loved your mother so much that he couldn't bear to keep you and watch you grow. He could already imagine that you would look just like her. So he gave you to two of his closest friends. It would have been me but I was having tough times with Tyler."

I swung my head up. "Does that mean...were not related?" I asked. Absolutely shocked out of my mind. I was even more amazed that I could still speak.

Craig looked down. "No, were not related."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst into tears.

The three adults than gathered around me. Trying to comfort me as much as possible. But to me, now, they were nothing but strangers. That scared me even more.

I heard the door slam open and I looked up. I thought that it would be my adopted Father. But it wasn't. It was Tyler, Desmond,Benjamin and Kristal. When they saw that I was crying, Tyler and Desmond were the quickest to move.

"What did you do?" I heard Tyler murmur to the adults.

Tyler dropped down on his knees and knelled in front of me. Desmond stood behind him as he watched me with apologetic eyes. I guess he somehow knew what was happening.

"Irina..are you okay?" Tyler asked, placing one hand on my knee and the other reaching out for my hands that were pressed against my face I guessed. I began to shake the way he looked at me.

"Tyler...you're...you're a vampire." I said, my eyes in clear shock. Tyler froze from trying to reach for my hand. I could tell I had his attention. I really didn't want to finish my sentence because I knew I would start crying again. But I had to get it out.

"Were not related...I'm adopted.."

I burst into tears again and smothered my face into my hands. I could tell that Tyler's had was still out stretched for mine. I guess he knew and was very upset that I had found out. How long did he know? Did he know from the start? That made me feel even worse.

I felt something plop on my lap. I pulled away my eyes and saw that Tylers head had dropped onto my lap and his arms were folded around his head. When I felt something went on my knees, I knew he was crying. He was just as upset as I was. I took my hands away from my face and started patting Tyler's head in comfort. I was about to break down again also so I bent down and put my head on top of Tyler's and began to cry.

After mine and Tyler's breakdown. Everyone decided to prove how they were Vampires. Just saying that they're Vampire's is different from proving it.

The first thing they did was show me they're fangs. When they're canine's grew instantly after, I freaked. Do I have those too? I started picking at my canine teeth. They seemed normal. Like any other human beings. But I wasn't human. Only half. Suddenly my teeth sharpened and they were poking out of my mouth. Huh, I guess thinking about fangs makes them appear.

They wanted to show me their agility next so they got Tyler to go and stand at the edge of the front yard. Apparently he was the fastest. When he was outside-I could see him through the window-I blinked and Tyler was in my face. Our noses were touching. I yelped and batted him across the head.

"Personal space, bimbo!" I yelled. Tyler laughed and pulled away. He sat on the couch next to me and put his arm over on the top of the couch. Just above my shoulders. I tried to ignore it but I couldn't

Next they showed Strength. Apparently this was up Desmond ally. I couldn't understand why because Desmond was skinnier than tyler and didn't have as much muscles as him. But, when he went outside for a moment and came around the window with Craigs truck in one hand and waving at me with the other, I just changed my mind in thinking that the world was normal. I was now beginning to believe that there were such thing as Aliens.

"There are more creatures on this planet than just Vampires." Marcus said. Ha, so I was right. There are such things as aliens now. My world is falling apart now. Where's the Apocalypse?

"There are shape shifters, Werewolves, Witches and even fallen angels. But they all like to keep their identity untold. Just like us." Marcus said, he was sitting in the couch in front of me smiling. He was truly a father figure. I just wish I knew mine.

My mind spoke on its own this time. It had been on my mind but I didn't plan on asking it. Apparently my mind thought differently.

"What do you feed on?"

The living room was dead silent. They looked around each other to see who would speak up for this one. It looked like no one wanted to.

"Humans."

Everyone turned to Kristal. Her arms were folded on top of her chest and her hair long brown hair swayed around her elegent body. She walked over toward us. She looked down at me when she was in front of the couch and spoke.

"Not live humans though. We would be too easy to notice. That's why Craig and Marcus work at the Hospital. Part of their job is to drain the bodies of dead people. All the internal organs are pulled out and tossed into a jar while the blood is to be disposed of. Marcus and Craig bring them to their home so were able to feed. When they can't, we go out and hunt animals." Kristal finished and stared at me with what looked to be a questioning yet nervous stare.

"Are you scared?" She asked.

"No." I said immediately. There was nothing to be really scared about anyway. They told me their daily lives. They don't hurt people. They do have impossible strength and speed. The perfect predator abilities. But, they don't use them. They don't want to be bothered so they wont bother anyone. And being out in the sun obviously means that it doesn't affect them. Seeing how it doesn't bother me. There was one thing that was bothering me though and I needed to find out about it.

"I have one last question." I said. Everyone looked up and waited. I looked toward where Desmond was. He was waiting patiently to what I would have to say. I felt my face heat up slightly when he smiled at me.

"What about me? I'm half vampire. Does that count for something?"

"Half-Vampires don't have to drink blood. They can live on normal human food if they wanted. But the average Half-Vampire would rather blood. Because it tastes better to them. You wouldn't know how it tastes because you never had any." Craig said.

"There's actually one more thing. Now that you brought up half-vampires." Marcus said suddenly. I turned to stare at him.

"You have a time limit."

I stared at me funny. Time limit? To what? This is rather confusing. Time limit, time limit....nothings coming up...

"You have a time limit to whether become a full vampire or stay human. When your about to turn nineteen. You will have to be bitten by a full Vampire in order to stay vampire. If you don't, You vampire cells will die off and your human cells will take over."

That's one hell of a decision.

If I become human. I wont live on with my friends and my close to almost like family. If I do become vampire, I'll have to drink blood and every day of my life just to stay alive. Everyone would of course try out a new life if they weren't the one to actually go and decide it.

Life just got more complicated.


	10. The Vampire Fight

The door knocked suddenly and everyone snapped their heads toward the entrance.

"I didn't even hear them..." Marcus said, walking toward the door. I heard Cynthia and Craig get up. "Obviously it's Joshua." Craig said, his fangs were showing. Joshua was my father. He was here, he found me. Was he going to take me home?

Marcus opened the door and there stood my father. His dark brown hair windblown while his eyes were the usual dark icy blue. When he saw me, he glared. His eyes had changed from blue, to a silvery black.

He turned back to Marcus. His expression changed from angry, to ignorant and sarcastic. "Marcus Lyndon. It's bit a while, fifty years to be exact."

"Joshua." Marcus said simply. My father looked behind him and looked at Craig. The look on Craig made me nervous. His eyes were literally black. His lips were drawn back and his two large sharp fangs were showing. I heard him snarl every once in a while too.

"What do you want Joshua?" Craig snapped. I heard something crack. When I looked down at his hands I saw him not really clenching his fists but, tightening his fingers to make his knuckles crack. I shivered.

"Obviously my daughter." He said shrugging his shoulders. "I miss her. She needs to come home." He looked and me and smiled crookedly.

Suddenly Craig disappeared. He reappeared in front of my father, his hand clasped around my fathers shirt. He lifted my father off the ground and shook him. "She already knows your not really her father! So leave!" Craig shoved him out the door. Like a normal person, they would have staggered and regained balance. But, my father and Craig weren't normal. When Craig pushed him, he flew to the other side of the front yard. He stood up and disappeared. He reappeared in front of Craig, grabbed his shoulders and threw him over his head. Craig regained himself and skidded on the gravel.

"It's on now." I heard Tyler say coming up from behind me.

Craig and Joshua went at it. This wasn't your normal men brawl. They were both swiping at each other and trying to bite each other. They threw each other toward tree and shattered them to pieces. The front yard was torn apart and for some very odd reason, I could tell Cynthia wasn't happy about that.

I saw Craig grab Joshua. He spun Joshua around so he was facing him and in one swipe, jabbed his long nailed hand threw his stomach and out the other side. I heard Joshua gurgle with his blood before spitting it out. With the finale whip of his hand, he threw it across his face. Blood spattered onto Craig face. When he finally finished, Joshua fell two his knees then collapsed on the already bloody ground. Dead. As I watched, I could feel Desmond's glance on me. Watching to see what I would do next.

I clasped my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

Craig was panting as he stared at Joshua's corpse. Then, he looked up and stared at me. I was shaking. I couldn't describe how scared I was. It felt like it just came out from a movie and I would always tell myself it wasn't real.

This was most definitely real. I am now seeing a world hiding from my world. Their world is now mine.

"He won't be bothering you anymore." Craig said. He took a deep breath, and walked over to the steps. He sat down on one of the stairs and stared at the ground. Cynthia left then quickly came back with the first aid kit and a cold cloth. Marcus went down the steps with her and stared to tend to his wounds.

My legs couldn't take it anymore. I sat on the step and took slow even breaths. I felt someone touch my shoulders. When I looked I saw Desmond looking at me with sorrowful eyes.

"I am truly sorry for what you had to see." He said. He lifted his hand up and touched my cheek. He pulled away to show me his finger. There was a teardrop. I felt my cheeks and realized I was pouring down with tears. I took an intake of breath and let them officially fall. I felt Desmond wrap his arms around me. He pulled me toward his chest and rest his hand on my head. Even though I was scared out of my mind, I couldn't stop the deep blush to come to my cheeks. I sobbed as I clenched his soon to be soaked shirt.

***

The next couple of days were unusual.

Every morning, I would wake up, and think that it was all a dream. But, when I see Tyler lift up the car just to get a five dollar bill, I know it's not a dream. At school, no one would make dirty remarks either. Even Emily Hogen came to apologize! She asked if I wanted to go shopping with her one day too. I was really shocked; I couldn't understand why everyone was treating me normally now. When I asked Benjamin.(I asked him because I was still nervous around Desmond from when I was crying and I felt awkward around Tyler now)

"It's because your father came to the school. Looking rather demonic. Everyone was so scared. They just couldn't believe that you killed your mother after that." He said looking toward Marissa and started talking.

I asked about Marissa, Cory, Ryan and Max. Even Shane. They told me that they were fallen angels. I looked at them funny for a while. But, when Marcus called and asked for them to come over and they showed me their wings, I was utterly surprised. Shane was also done fixing my bike so when Marcus asked him to come over, he brought my bike along with him.

It was the end of school and I was heading over to my bike. Tyler wanted to drive to school together but I refused. To me, it was still awkward. I didn't think he found it awkward though. Ever since I found out about the truth, Tyler has been free spirited. He didn't get as frustrated as he would usually.

I walked over to my bike and stood in front of it to pull my keys out. I placed my bag on the latch behind my seat so it wouldn't fall off when I would drive. I threw on my White rain jacket that had a long collar and sat down on the seat. I kicked the kickstand up from the ground and put the keys in. When I turned the key, I didn't hear the usual rev of it coming to life. I turned it again and still nothing. I put the kickstand back up and got off my bike. I stood in front of my bike and looked at it funny.

"I thought Shane fixed it."

I bent down and looked around the engine. I had no idea what I was doing, all I really knew about my bike was how to start it and how to clean the tank. I didn't know a single thing about how to fix an engine.

"Need help?"

I looked behind me and saw a boy with long shaggy brown hair. He wasn't really tanned, but it was enough to be notice. He had deep silver eyes. They looked like they could sparkle off the sun. He was wearing a brown long sleeve shirt that showed the tone of his ab and arm muscles. He wore a dark blue pair of torn up jeans too.

I thought about contemplating his help. Last time I got help was when I was still in England and it got me lost on the free way. Oh well, this is a bike, not asking directions.

"Yeah sure. If you don't mind."

"No, not at all." The guy was pretty polite.

He bent down beside me and I quickly stood up and watched him from started poking at my bike. Then, pulled something and the bike came to life. I grinned and turned to thank him when he stood up. Then I stopped and noticed how tall he was. He must have been standing over me a good two and a half feet! I was 5,4.

"T-Thanks.." I said, still in awe and how tall he was. How come I never seen this person in school?!

"Haha, surprised? Everyone usually is when they meet me. My entire family's like this." He laughed slightly. Must have been an inside joke.

"My names Irina Thomas."

The giant laughed. "Oh I know. I'm Seth Coopermen. Nice to actually meet you then hear about you." He extended his giant hand and mine vanished when I took it to shake.

"So how come I never seen you at school?" I asked when he gave me my hand back.

"Well, I've been sick for the past couple days. I had the flu" He said scratching the back of his neck and looking the other way.

"Oh, that sucks."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. My brothers are waiting for me. Later." He said waving his hand as he walked off.

"Bye."

When I saw him make his way around the corner, I hopped on the back of my bike and sped off.

When I got home, Tyler was sitting on the couch watching t.v. He seemed to really like that flat screen t.v. But of course, anyone who likes watching t.v would. I hate t.v.

I threw my bag on the kitchen table. I walked around the counters toward the fridge to grab a drink. When I did, I stayed behind the counter and watched as Tyler watched t.v.

"How can you watch that stuff?"

Tyler looked behind me and smiled. He had this sort of glint in his eyes and it made me nervous. I pulled the cup of orange juice away from my lips and sat it on the counter. I waited for Tyler to say something.

"You're finally talking to me now?"

I blushed. I didn't know why, but I did. I grabbed the cup and looked the other way. I took a big gulp and sat the cup back down.

"Dose it really matter? I haven't spoken because I was thinking. That's all."

"oh? And what were you thinking about?" He asked, very interested in thinking of what I was thinking.

"None of your business." I turned to go up the , Tyler was standing in front of them smiling down at me. Man, that grin was freaking me out.

"I wanna Know."

I glared at him. "What's wrong with you? Ever since I found out about the secret you've been acting differently!"

Tyler's grin faded away. His face was suddenly very serious. His eyes changed from the ocean blue to a deep butterscotch color. I thought I was nervous before. Now, I'm even more. He took a step toward me and I took one back. It continued like that until I had pressed my back to the wall. Tyler's hands were beside my head.

"Because I don't have to hold back anymore." His tone was very serious. Deep. There was a scent on him I never noticed before. It was a sweet aroma. Did he always smell like this?

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I thanked the gods and ran under Tyler's arms. I ran to the door and swung it open. There stood Benjamin, Kristal, and Desmond. I looked at them funny as they smiled at me.

"Hello Irina. How are you? May we come in?" Desmond asked as polite as always. I nodded and moved out of the way for them to come in. They came in and sat down on the couch. Desmond sat on the couch and there was one spot left. I took it and watched as Tyler came around and sat in the chair.

"So why are you guys here?" Tyler asked, looking from me to Desmond. I looked away from Tyler every time he glanced at me.

"We want you to come to the Party." Benjamin smiling. I felt Desmond flinch. I looked up at him and saw a stern look in his eyes. When I looked to see what he was staring at, I regretted it. He was staring at Tyler. When Tyler saw me look, he glanced right back at me with a slight smile on his face. I turned back to look at Benjamin.

"What party?"

This time Kristal spoke. She leaned forward to see and smiled. "Today's Desmond's birthday. He didn't tell you?" I looked at Desmond. He was looking from me, to Kristal. I guess he never thought of us getting along.

"No, he never told me." I said starring at Desmond. I wonder how old he is? Human years he would be turning eighteen but, how old is he as Vampire? I want to know now...

"Oh, well, were having a big party for him. Would you like to come?" Kristal asked. She looked from me to Tyler. I smiled and spoke up first.

"Sure, I'll go! What time?" This is where Benjamin and Kristal started grinning. Their pale yet very beautiful expressions brightening up. "It's not really an average party..." Benjamin said.

"It's going to be very formal. And...around midnight is where it will start."


	11. Getting Ready

I never thought that there would an epic party for one guys birthday. But when they came to tell me that it was Desmond's birthday, It got me wondering how old he was....I plan on finding out.

Kristal sprung up from her seat and smiled at me. I smiled back but mine was sort of questioning. She walked over to me and pulled me up from the couch. Once I stood up, everyone stood up. I looked around in wonder.

"Well, let's go to the dress shop and pick out a dress for you. We'll call Marissa and the boys to see if they want to come." Kristal said, walking out to the front and putting her shoes on. Benjamin was doing the same thing.

"Are they invited?" I asked, walking over to the front and also putting my shoes on.

"Yep! They have to wear tuxedos!" She looked over at Tyler and smiled. "You're not excited for that are you?"

Tyler scoffed. He already had his shoes on and was waiting for us. " I shouldn't have to wear a tux. It's so stupid." He turned around and walked out the door and sat in the car Benjamin and Kristal came in. I looked at him funny while he walked out the door. What was eating him?

"Irina!" I looked back to where Benjamin and Kristal were standing together, looked like they were waiting for me to follow. I pushed my thoughts of something being wrong with Tyler and got in the back or the Ford Equinox.

***

We were in a store where there was nothing but dresses. Dresses on hangers, dresses on models, dresses in pictures. Left and right up and down. Hot pink, lime green, neon yellow. It was intense. Kristal pulled out a light pink prom like dress and smiled at me. I was standing in a mirror looking at myself. I was wearing a a dark purple prom dress that had no straps. I hated it. I found a couple blue ones but none of them that I liked. When I saw Kristal pull out the light pink dress. I quickly backed up and said, "Why don't you get that one? You haven't looked yet."

Kristal laughed. "I already have my dress ready. It's you and Merissa that don't have one yet." I heard Merissa laugh, then call out, "Let me try the pink one! I love pink!" Stupid fallen Angel...so smiley and hyper. I would never had thought that Vampires and Fallen Angels would get along. Yet, if they were different species, I think they would have been like that from the beginning.

Kristal tossed over the pink furly dress and out came a lime green one. I walked back over to the isle with all thee dresses. I was still wearing the purple one as I walked around looking for a nice blue one. If I had gone into the dressing room to change into my clothes, Kristal and Merissa would have thrown in about fifty other dresses. None that I would like.

As I walked down the dress hallway, I could hear Kristal and Merissa talking to someone. When I peaked over the hanger, I saw that all the guys were there. Cory, Ryan, Max, Shane, Tyler, and Desmond. they were all they're talking. I remembered that I was still in the purple dress and sighed to myself. I should have just stayed in the dressing room, I thought to myself.

I continued to looked for a blue dress. Obviously blue is my favorite color. While I was searching, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned and saw Desmond smiling at me. I smiled back and tried to turn back to what I was doing.....what was I doing again?

"Don't like that dress?" He asked casually. I simply nodded and tried to remember what I was doing. Why can't I remember? Desmond should Leave so i can put my thoughts back together....

"What kind of dress are you looking for? Maybe I could help.." Desmond said, sounding unsure.

I thought for a moment. If I did let him, we could be done with this faster. If I didn't I would be hear forever and Kristal and Merissa would have me try on a hundred other dresses.

"If you don't mind." I said, turning around to smile at him. His smile was huge. I guess he really did want to help. I should give him something in return for helping me out next time were doing something.

"Great." He said.

So we started looking. Desmond asked me what kind of dress I'm looking for. I told that it at least had to be blue. He simply nodded and it looked like he was trying to concentrate on something. Probably trying to think of what kind of dress he should show me.

"So, um, how old are you turning. I should at least know if I'm going to your party." I said while keeping my gaze away from him. I heard him laugh. "I don't think I want to tell you. I'm way over the age for someone to be in high school." That got me even more curious. "But I want to know." I said, this time I turned to see what he looked like.

He had his back to me as he searched the hangers for a dress. I couldn't see what his face looked like. "I'm a lot older then you." He said, he went to a different hanger of them and pulled out a dress. I didn't have anything yet so I turned back to the Hanger. There was no blue dresses so I went to a different one. I still wanted to know how old he was so I thought of something else.

"How about I guess? That way, you don't really have to say it." I said, he didn't say anything I was guessing that he was thinking if he should let me guess or not.

"Yeah, go ahead and try to guess." He said, sounding like he was smiling. I smiled. Not only because I had found a pretty blue dress, but also because he was letting me inside his bubble area.

"Okay....1,169?" I asked, the first one was kind of a joke. When I heard him burst out laughing, I smiled. I turned around and saw him hunched over laughing so hard. He obviously wasn't that old.

"So am I close? Higher or lower?" I asked as a went to another Rack. When he stopped laughing, he said, "Lower, a lot lower." I thought for a moment. "Are you turning 19? are you new?" I asked He laughed again but not as much as last time.

"I am older than that." He said, smiling warmly at me. I was about to guess again when I heard Merissa come up behind me.

"There you are! Did you find a dress? Me and Kristal found a few you might like." Merissa said grinning at me. I grinned also but shook my head. "I found on that I might like, and Desmond picked on out for me too. So I think I'm just going to decide from them." I said showing her mine. then pointing over to what Desmond had in his hand.

Merissa looked at us funny before shrugging her shoulders and skipping off toward the others. Desmond and I slowly followed behind her. I saw Cory, Ryan and Max waving toward me like their arms would fall off. Shane stood next to Tyler smiling over at me while Tyler just stared. There was seriously something bugging Tyler and it was bugging me. I had to find out.

Desmond handed me the dress the he picked out and I trudged into the changing room. I decided to try on the one I picked out first. When I put it on, I stepped out of the locked room and before everyone. They smiled and clapped. I turned to look in the mirror and smiled. The dress was amazing. The beautiful blue that I wanted along with spaghetti straps and it shimmered in the light. It was a puffy dress but it was something that I could handle. I loved it.

"Irina that's amazing! Are you going to get it?" Kristal asked me in astonishment. Although she was much prettier then me, she was absolutely amazed in the dress I had found and how it looked on me. I smiled and turned to her. "I have one more dress. I'm going to try that one on and pick from them two." I said before walking back into the small room to change.

When I came out, Everyone just stared. Was it that bad on me. But, when I turned to look at Tyler and Desmond who were standing next to each other and I saw them awe struck, there was no way from it being that bad. I turned to look at myself in the mirror. I was speechless.

Desmond had picked out the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. It was a beautiful dark blue prom dress with no straps. It landed to the floor but not enough for it to drag. it sparkled a little and there was specks of black in it. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever saw.

"I want this one." I said pure and simple. I heard Kristal and Merissa make a 'pfft' sound. I looked at them in confusion. "Please, you were going to get it whether you liked it or not. It looks great on you."

I smiled and looked back at the mirror. Glad that something this good wasn't fake.

***

I never got to ask how old Desmond was after that. We were all separated when we hit the shoe store. The guys refused to go in. I also refused and told them to just get me a pair that would match my dress. But they dragged me in and we were there for a good hour. When we finally left the mall. We cam back to mine and Tyler's house and collapsed on the couches. I saw Kristal look at the clock and quickly spring up.

"It's 8'oclock!"

"So?" I said, kicking my feet up on the coffee table and relaxing. "We have to get ready!! Come on!" She cried, she yanked my arm and pulled me up from the couch. "Hey, wait!" She ignored me and dragged me up the stairs to my room.

As I sat in the bathroom of my room. I prayed to the gods that I wouldn't be in here for a long time. Hopefully, Kristal already had in mind for what she wanted to do and wouldn't have to standing front of me with a hairbrush, contemplating on what torture method she was going to use on me. But sadly, my praying wasn't enough. Merissa walked into the bathroom with a insanely large box and I could only guess what was inside it.

It was like she pushed a button and her own hair salon and makeup chair had appeared, I saw curling irons, flat irons, straightener, and the everyday other torture devises. I was on the verge of screaming bloody murder after I saw some weird tweaser thingy. Merissa picked it up and looked at me smiling.

"Kristal, we got a lot of work to do." Merissa said, putting down the very dangerous looking tool and pulling something out that looked even more dangerous. I gulped.

"Do we ever. Her hair is nice and soft though." Kristal complimented. Why couldn't they leave it naturally wavy? People said that my wavy curls look really nice. I didn't have to work for them like other people had to.

Two long hours later of pulling and and yanking and the occasional me yelling. They were finally done. I was so happy to get off the seat and leave but they pushed me back down right before I was going to take a step.

"What the hell?!"

"Were not done yet!" Kristal said. Running over to her torture box and pulling out eye shadow. Merissa pulled out lip gloss, eyeliner, more eyeshadow, cover up, and other weird things you out on your face. I never put makeup on my face, I always thought I looked much better without it. When they were finally done with that, I sat there for an extra minute just to see if they were done with me and going to fix themselves now. They indeed started to do their hair so I quickly got up and left. I walked into my room and looked in the mirror.

I had to admit, Merissa and Kristal did a good job. My hair looked amazing! My waving curls were accentuated and my bangs were not as lop sided and in my face as I usually left them. My hair was bumped up in the back and made it look neater. My make up was so simple that I was amazed. I guess this is what they call the natural look, all they really worked on were my eyes. They looked amazing to me. I heard Kristal call my name in the bathroom.

"Once were done you can put your dress on! I'm going to put mine on first then Merissa's going to!" She called from the bathroom I sat on my bed and sighed. First one done and last one to walk out of the intoxicating room. I sighed and sat patiently. Surprisingly, they were done in minutes, unlike, me hours. Kristal came out with her hair messily scrunched and wavy, It looked really nice. I was some what annoyed that my hair took the longest. Merissa came out and her hair was party tied up with bits of curly strands coming down. Kristal grabbed her red dress and walked back into the bathroom. While she was in there, I went to go get my dress that I left downstairs.

As I walked down, I didn't hear the guys talking like I thought I would. When I fully came down, they weren't even in the living room. I thought long and hard for a moment wondering where they went. Then, I heard Tyler's voice coming from the back. I thought about walking over to talk to them for a moment then I remember how I looked right now. My insecurity of not looking like this got the better of me and ran up the stairs once they opened the door.

When I came back up, Merissa and Kristal were both in the mirror touching up there makeup. To me, it wasn't like they needed it anyway. Without it they looked gorgeous. But with it, they looked even more prettier. When they turned around and saw me standing in one spot they glared.

"Irina? What are you doing? Go get changed!" Merissa shouted while Kristal laughed slightly and my spaced out look. When I came back, I nodded and ran into the bathroom. I immediately pealed off my clothes and began to put my dress on.

"Irina, were just going to meet you downstairs." Kristal said, knocking on my door. I quickly looked up at the closed door. "Are ya sure? I think I might need help going down the stairs...This dress is huge!" I heard Merissa and Kristal laugh before they opened the door and left thr room. I sighed and finished putting my dress and shoes on. I straightened up and took a step. Then, I grabbed onto the desk because I had almost fell. I just saw Merissa and Kristal leave with them on, how can it be so hard?!

I took a deep breath, and slowly walked out of my room and down the stairs. When the saw me coming carefully down the stairs, they grinned. I probably looked like a fool to them. Getting all dressed up and wearing something that they knew I wouldn't be caught dead wearing. OH wait, I'm half dead, what did that mean?

I saw Desmond grinning the most. His grin made me feel self conscious. I didn't want him to see my face so I looked down at my feet the entire way down the stairs. When I hit the last stair, I reluctantly looked up at all my friends. Cory, Ryan, and Max started clapping and High-fiving Merissa and Kristal. Merissa smiled over at Benjamin and he smiled back. Their smiling and high-fiving obviously meant that they did an excellent job. That made me feel warm inside. I looked through the crowd of friends as they slowly headed out to the car and saw Tyler. He was leaning on the door frame and starring at me. I sighed and carefully stepped over to him.

"Howdie." I said, bringing my hand up to my forehead and tipping it off. Tyler smiled a little and leaned up from the door frame. "Even all dolled up you can't seem to shake off the tom-boy side." Tyler said, shaking his head and chuckling softly. I smiled. The mood that he had seemed to be in was gone and was replaced with the easy going attitude I was used to.

"Well, we better get going. I don't think Kristal wants to be fashionably late." I said, lifting my dress up so it wouldn't drag on the ground. I heard Tyler laugh behind me as he closed the door and locked it. "We wouldn't want her on her dark side." He said.

"Nope, we certainly do not." I said, climbing into the back of the car. I sat next to Desmond and smiled when he saw me sit next to him. He gently placed his hand on my hand and grinned. His beautiful white teeth shined in the dark car. I was glad for the darkness of the car because he couldn't see my deep rosy face.

"Alright! Hit the gas pedal Benjamin! Were on our way to the best party ever!!" I heard Merissa cheer. Beside me, I heard Desmond groan. Was he that against on having a party?

"I'm still going to find out how old you are." I said, tracing my thumb over him bony fingers. Desmond seemed to have taken an intake of breath. I looked up at him to see if what I was doing was wrong. But, when I looked up, he was grinning even more then he was when he saw me coming down the stairs from my room.

"Alright, you have until the party is over. If not, you lose." He said, looking up toward the front of the car, everyone was busy talking to each other and didn't seem to notice us. I laughed, it seemed more high pitched then it usually would have been. That made me think that there was something wrong with me. Aside from the fact that I felt giddy because I was holding Desmond's hand.

"It's a deal then." I said, looking Desmond straight in the eyes with my burning determinated stare. There was no way I was going to lose this bet. He laughed and brought his hand the was in laced with my to his lips. He kissed it gently. It felt like a butterfly touching it.

"If you win, I'll give you all my presents that I receive. If I win," Desmond had a look in his eyes that made my head feel light. I waited for him to continue.

"I get to skip a day of school with you and we go on a date." He said, sounding very confident in himself. He smiled at me with his pearly whites. When he said that, I thought my whole left side had tensed up on me. But, Tyler, who was sitting next to me, had abruptly tensed. Our whole side was touching so I was able to feel the rigid tenseness of his body when Desmond had told me his end of the bargain.

**_Whew! Hey guys! Finally got a chapter up! Sorry it took me so long, I had so many things to do ever since School started back up. I would like to thank everyone for their feed back from Chapter 1 to now. Thank you NightHunter09, the most recent one for giving feedback! Tell your Brother to keep timing to see how long you can read it! I'll try to make it longer!_**

**_JalissaM.  
_**

﻿


	12. Fruit Punch & A New Enemy

I turned my head in Tyler's direction. He was looking straight ahead. His eyebrows were creased down and his mouth was in a grim line. As he continued to look forward, I saw his eyes change color, from black to red. I abruptly remembered when Craig and Joshua were fighting. They're eyes were red too.

Seeing this on Tyler made me shudder. I felt Desmond's questioning gaze on my neck as I continued to watch Tyler. I reached up with my other hand and touched Tyler's shoulder.

It was freezing cold! I always remembered Tyler being toasty warm, every winter I would have to creep over to him on the couch because I was so cold. Now, I thought that I should give him _my _warmth. Then I remember that his eyes were black too. What could black mean?

I felt like I was loosing my memory, how could I forget? Before I found out that he was a vampire, I remember him being cold. Him and Craig went out to the bank and told me to stay here. When they came back, Tyler was toasty warm again.

Tyler was hungry and angry.

It was pretty obvious that that wasn't the best combination. So, I gripped onto his shoulder and gave him a look of awareness. He looked at me with a surprised glance then toward the front again. When the car stooped and Tyler quickly hopped out, I was surprised to find ourselves at I enormous house. Bigger then Tyler's. Before Tyler walk up the first step, I grabbed on to his shoulder and spun him around.

"I think you should go get something to eat." I shuddered at the thought of his type of snack. "So you don't angry with other people that are in the house. Don't you think that would be smart?" I asked, my voice sounding a bit nervous.

Tyler was silent for a moment. He was about to walk forward, but i squeezed his shoulder and he sighed. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He said, then disappeared. I sighed with relief and continued to walk up the steps of the giant house.

When I walked in, there were a good ten to fifteen in the room. I looked among them for someone I knew but there was no one. I sighed and continued into the main room. When I walked in, I was shocked to see that the room was split up into 2 groups. One group was next to the punch table, the other was next to the other punch table. I elbowed Kristal and she looked at me funny.

"Why is everyone split up?" I asked, looking from one group to another. I knew they could here me. They just wanted to act as human as possible and ignore me. They could probably read my mind too. No one told me if they could yet. Note the yet...

"Oh, that's because the group to the left is full of Purebloods and the group on the right is just normal vampires." She said smiling. I looked at her like she was crazy. They actually categorize each other?

"What's a Pureblood? What's the difference?"

"You know queen Elizabeth? Something like that. Our Purebloods are like royal family." I looked around sourly. "It's not like the Purebloods think they're better, it's just always been that way. But don't worry, in about an hour they will all go up stairs and play poker or something like that. That's when Desmond's actual birthday party kicks in." Kristal said winking.

"What am I? Are you a Pureblood?"

"No, I'm a normal vampire. Actually, I don't know if your a Pureblood." She turned around and tapped Craig and Marcus on the shoulder. I prayed to the gods that I wasn't a Pureblood. Craig and Marcus smiled and waved at each other. Marcus walked to the group on the right while Craig walked over toward me.

"Come with me, you're with us." Craig said, placing his hand gently on my back and pushing me forward. My praying didn't work. I looked back and watched as everyone else walked over to the other side of the room.

"Are you saying I'm a Pureblood?" I asked, upset that I wouldn't be able to see anyone for a good hour.

"Yes, don't worry, you wont be alone. Tyler is a Pureblood also." I stopped walking. Tyler and I were both Purebloods. Doesn't that mean were actually related. I smiled and grinned over at Craig. He looked at me questioningly.

"Doesn't that mean that I'm actually related to you and Tyler?" I asked, a grin wide on my face. His expression changed it right away. I looked down sadly. "No, you see, I am a Pureblood. But, the Purebloods are divided into two families. Class 1 and Class 2." He explained. He sat me in a chair then he sat next to me.

"What class are you?" I asked, picking up a class of fruit punch and drinking it. It was surprisingly really good. I took a big gulp.

"I am Class 2. Class 2 isn't as important as Class 1. There isn't much left of Class 1 either." He said, taking a glass of fruit punch also. I took another gulp before asking another question. "How many Class 1's are there left?" I stirred the fruit punch glass slowly around my hand, I watched as it turned into a small whirlpool.

"There are two left." He said simply. He took a sip out of his fruit punch and sighed with content. "You and your father."

The glass almost fell out of my hand.

Good thing Craig was paying attention or the glass would have fallen and shattered. When he caught it, he chuckled and handed it back to me. I grasped it tightly making sure it didn't drop out of my hand.

"Are you serious? Me?" I had way too much of this. This was all flying at me from one way to another. I was beginning to get dizzy. I steadied myself in the chair I was sitting in.

"Yes, It must be very shocking for you." He said. Folding his right leg on his left. I shook my head and sighed. "That means I'm like a Princess to these people..." I shook my head again.

"You were brought into this world to give everyone a meaning to live again. Everything has fallen apart in the last millennium." Craig said, smiling sadly at me.

I looked at him strangely. "What do you mean? What happened?"

Craig looked to the left out toward the middle of the room. I looked also with him and saw that a few people were doing the waltz. I was surprised that Vampire's new such a dance. I stared in awe as they flew across the dance floor. I looked over at the other side of the dance floor and saw that everyone was laughing and dancing. I wish I could go over there. I saw Desmond looking over toward here. His icy blue eyes starring directly at me. I smiled and gave a slight waved to him.

"A man named Kaleb is what happened." Craig said suddenly. I looked away from Desmond and over toward Craig. "Who's Kaleb?" I asked, not thinking that he would make such an angered face. I almost fell tears come to my eyes at how scary it looked.

"Kaleb is that man that took over the Mythical Throne when your Father disappeared. We all knew that Kaleb wanted to me leader. So we suspected him of making your father disappearing, We never could prove it, so we had to let him take the throne. Your father didn't have any successor's we knew about." He looked aver at me and smiled and genuine smile.

"Until now."

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and looked up and saw Tyler grinning down at me. I smiled and stood up.

"I'm guessing your refreshed now?" I asked, smiling at him. He nodded and took a glass of punch. In one gulp in was gone. I stared at him in surprise. He looked at me questioningly.

"What? I ran all the way back. Of course I'm going to be thirsty!"

I laughed and took my glass of punch. I finished of what was left in it and grabbed another one. Tyler watched as I pulled the glass to my lips. When I took a sip. I pulled it away and sighed.

"This is some good fruit punch isn't it? I can't stop drinking it." By now, Craig had left me and Tyler and walked off to talk to some adults. Tyler looked at me like a I was crazy.

"That's not fruit Punch." He said, watching as I took a big gulp this time. I wont lie, it really is good. When I swallowed, I looked at him funny.

"Really? Then what is it?"

"Human Blood."

This time I _did _drop my cup and it _did _smash. I stared at the pieces of glass on the floor, my mouth covered. The red liquid was flowing down in a strange line. It looked like it was running through veins. The way it should be. The entire room was silent. I looked up and around with my hand still covering my mouth. Some were starring at me, and some were starring and the blood spreading all on the floor.

"I think I'm going to be sick.." I said, feeling my stomach turn and my face turn really pale. I closed my eyes trying to get rid of the queasy feeling.

I felt myself being picked up. I didn't dare open my eyes because the motion of the person running already made it worse. Another second later I was dropped back down on the floor. I opened my eyes and threw up in the toilet. I felt the person pick up my hair out of the way so it wouldn't be contaminated with my once digested food.

The person rubbed my back as I continued to vomit. After a while, I knew it was Tyler because he's the only one who knows how to soothe me when I feel as sick as I do now. He continued to rub my back as he started humming some of mine and his favorite songs. He was humming to the song 'Shattered' by 'Trading Yesterday'.

I pulled some toilet paper and wiped my mouth. Not only did I still feel sick, but my mouth tasted disgusting. I didn't get up yet. I knew if I stood up I would just get quezy and get sick again. I sat against the shelves of the sink and sighed. Tyler leaned against the sink with me.

"feeling better?" He asked, sounding sincerely worried. I sighed again and nodded. "For now." He chuckled.

I sighed as I sat there on the cold tiled floor. I didn't expect that to happen. It really did look like fruit punch. I felt myself getting queasy again. I held my stomach and looked over toward the toilet. I looked inside to see that the entire bowl was red. My stomach heaved and I threw up again. I could still taste what I thought was fruit Punch in my mouth. The sweetness of it rolling across my mouth.

I wanted more.

"You're not okay, I think we should head home." Tyler said, Standing up and gently grabbing my forearm.

"But it's Desmond's Birthday..." I said trying to refuse. But I was too weak right now to fight back. It wouldn't have worked anyway because Tyler is a full Vampire While I'm only half.

"Desmond has enough guests. If two leave he wont be upset. In fact, he'd be happy if his birthday wasn't celebrated at all..." Tyler said, pulling me along. I sighed in agitation. I didn't want to leave. Not because I wanted more blood, I could control that. It was the fact that I came without a present. The least I could do was stay. I yanked my arm away from Tyler as hard as I could. It surprisingly slipped out of his grasp. He turned to look at me shocked.

"I'm staying."

Tyler said and pinched his nose with his two fingers, one hand on his hip. He looked kind of funny like that. But I didn't dare laugh at this moment. I waited for him to say something.

"Fine, but the next time you get sick. I'm dragging you out of here." He said, pointing a finger at me and then extending his hand out. I grinned and took his hand. He led me down the stairs and into the main room.

Everyone was back to normal again. The blood that was on the floor was gone and the glass had been cleaned up. I saw Merissa and Kristal smiling at me encouragingly and I smiled back. When we hit the last step, I immediately felt someone's eyes on me. I turned to my left and saw the stranger.

He was only a few inches taller then Tyler. Which made him a head taller then me. He was probably only a few years older then me.(ignoring the vampire years part). He had short cropped hair. The color of his hair was many different color browns. His eyes were a deep chocolate brown and his lips were full and a deep red. He wasn't exactly wearing a tuxedo like all the other handsome men. He was wearing block dress pants and a black blouse with the top buttons open. The sleeves were rolled up and the cuffs were undone. He grinned at me and started to walk over.

Tyler grabbed me and tugged me behind him. I didn't understand what he was trying to do. I was about to step back out when he gave me a look. Then he mouth one word that sent me cringing into him.

"Kaleb."

Why would such a man be doing at Desmond's Birthday party?! Such a man should be out doing really important things! Not coming to parties to scare people! If this man was really the King of the Mythical Throne, then don't you think he would be busy trying to keep that throne?

He was still grinning when he was standing in front of Tyler.

"Why hello Tyler. It's been a long time since I've seen you." You haven't been to such a gathering like this in a long time. It makes _me _feel honored." Kaleb said grinning and bowed mockingly.

I already hate this guy.

As if he read my mind, he turned to look at me and grinned even more. This grin wasn't different from the one he gave Tyler. It was more, threatening. I guess he knew I was one of the two remaining rights to the throne. He thought of me as a threat.

Which made me a part of his hit list.

_**Sorry this was so short guys, I would have written more but I wanted to save that part for the next chapter. I've been getting a lot of Homework too so don't hate me!**_

_**I would like to thank -OCD- Obsessive Cullen Disorder- for the most recent update! Love the name! OCD FTW!! Thankyou! I will continue to work as best as I can't between school!**_

_**Jalissa M.  
**_


	13. On the Run

Well, I was right about one thing. He was doing his job in keeping his rights to the throne. Part of it was to get rid of me so he _could _keep it. I shivered. Kaleb noticed and grinned.

"Are we cold Irina?" How does he know my name?! "No." I said quietly.

Tyler grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it.

_**Go the others. I'll deal with this.**_

The hell?! Was that Tyler in my head. I was going to look at him but then I noticed that his hand and my hand were behind him. _He was hiding it from Kaleb_.

I gripped back and stared forward. Thinking that I might be abl to do what he did if I concentrated hard enough. I felt a piece of myself slip out thought my hand and out of my fingertips.

_Will you be okay? _I asked. Now that I figured that I was inside Tyler's mind. I felt felt him feel content.

_**Yeah, I'll be fine. Now, go!**_

When let go of Tyler's hand, I felt the piece of me slip back. When I walked by Kaleb, he gave me a look. It looked like a warning. I ignored it and went straight to Marcus and the others.

When they saw me coming, they're eyes widened. I looked over to where my fellow pure bloods were. They were starring at me too. They obviously thought I was going to come back over there. I looked behind and saw Tyler starring at me too. He thought that's where I was going to. I felt bad for leaving Craig there, but I felt more safe over here where everyone else was. If Craig were smart, he would forget all this these people on one side these people on the other rule.

I saw Kristal starring at me as if I were crazy. I walked straight to her and grabbed her hand. I squeezed it tightly and felt me slip through her this time.

_If you think I'm going over there, then your crazy. I'm more safe here then there._

Kristal looked at me shocked. She tired to conceal it before Kaleb saw. Her hand grabbed onto mine and she tugged me toward a chair. We sat down but we didn't let go.

_**When did you learn how to do this?**_ She asked. I titled my head slightly toward Tyler. She noticed and grinned. **_What a scumbag _**she said giggling. I laughed along with her.

I looked over toward where the pure bloods were. They were still watching me. I looked back over to Tyler and Kaleb. They were talking now. I turned to Kristal and sighed.

"I wish they would go back to what they were doing." I said, titling my head toward the pure bloods. I suddenly heard talking. I turned and saw that everyone had gone back to what they were doing. I turned back to Kristal shocked. She gripped my hand tightly.

_**They acknowledge you as they're ruler! **_She said grinning. I wanted to smile. But the fact that they think of me as their ruler wasn't quiete appealing. I looked over to Kaleb and Tyler and saw that they were looking at the pure bloods. Some of them were coming over here to talk to others. Vampire from this side were walking over there to talk. I was shocked. Did that little rule just brake?

I felt someone starring at me. I looked and saw Kaleb glaring at me. I shivered and looked toward Kristal. She smiled comfortingly and and gave me a hug. She let go of my hand this time.

"Good job." She said.

I felt someone dropped in a chair beside me. I looked over and saw Benjamin. He looked really tired. When I looked closer, I saw that his eyes were glazed and his cheeks were bright red. I looked at Benjamin in shock.

"Benjamin, are you drinking?!" I shrieked. He looked toward me. His head slouched on his shoulder and he sighed. "Yeah, what of it?" He said. I looked at him funny. There goes all his essence of politeness.

He got up again. He picked the chair up the I was sitting on and turned it around so it was facing toward Tyler and Kaleb. I looked at Benjamin as if he were nuts. Well, he kind of is right now.

He picked the chair up that he had and spun it around in that direction too. Then he sat down on it and looked at me.

"Put you're seat belt on."

"What?!" I shouted. Benjamin was actually drunk! I couldn't believe it!

He shifted to the left and grabbed something in the air. He brought it down and made a clicking sound. He had just buckled himself in his imaginary seat belt. I tried not to grin.

"Do you have your seat belt on?" He asked me again. Going along with it, I put the imaginary seat belt on and made the clicking sound. He grinned and me, and pretended to start driving.

"Nice night eh?" He asked. I laughed at him. He was taking this seriously! Suddenly, Benjamin started to shake. It looked like he was in a seizure I looked at him funny. When he stopped. He just sat there. He looked over to me and slowly said,

"We crashed."

I burst out laughing. Benjamin was absolutely hilarious when he was drunk! I thought he was under age to drink(so was I) but then I remembered he was a vampire. Who knows how long he's been alive!

I continued to laugh even though Benjamin had rested his head on my shoulder and had fallen asleep. When I was done laughing, I looked at Benjamin's sleeping face. He was for a fact, a year younger then me. In human years that is. Seeing his face made me think of a child fast asleep after a long day. I hummed a laugh.

"He fell asleep did he?"

I looked up at Desmond and nodded. I stroked Benjamin's head slowly. He was like a little child to me. I didn't know why but, I thought of him like a baby brother. Desmond bent over and picked Benjamin up. He slung him over his shoulder, then looked over at me.

"I'll take him to his room. He wont be waking up for a while. I nodded my head and watched as Desmond went up the stairs with Benjamin. I turned my head and noticed that all the adult looking vampires had disappeared. I guess this is when Desmond's actually birthday starts.

Kristal came up to me and grabbed my hand. She started dragging me up the stairs when I was off the chair. I looked at her funny when she turned to say something.

"We gotta change into better clothes now!" Oh, thank god I was getting out of this dress!

I started running with her. When we got to her room. She quickly tossed me a short white dress. She shoved me into the bathroom and I took that as a que to get ready. I quickly stripped down and put that dress on. When I was done, Kristal told me to go down stairs. She would meet me down there.

I walked down the stairs. I was amazed at the quick change of the room. Instead of it being plain and a band playing in the background, there were speakers and a giant stereo system in the back. I looked and saw that Tyler and Desmond had taken off most of their tucks. The buttons at the top were undone and they were wearing jeans instead of dress pants. I came down the stairs as quickly as I could without falling on the heals I had.

Tyler saw me before Desmond did. He came over as I hit the last step.

"This is pretty cool.." I said, looking over Tyler's shoulder and looking at the giant sound system. Oh, how I wanted to push buttons on it. Tyler laughed and looked up. He looked like he was listening to somehting before he looked back down at me.

"I'll be back, My dad is calling me." I nodded and then I was alone.

I wasn't alone for long. Someone tapped my shoulder. Suspecting it to be Desmond, I turn around with a grin on my face. My grinned wiped away when I saw who it really was.

"Hello, again. What are you doing all alone?" Kaleb asked me. Looking me up and down, he looked like he was hungry. Which really got me scared. I took a step back from him. He of course, took a step forward.

"What are you doing down here? Aren't you supposed to be with the adults upstairs?" I asked, hoping to get him to actually walk up the stairs. Kaleb just grinned at me and took another step toward was so close that his chest could touch mine. I'm going to have a freak-out if this guy doesn't step off!

He placed his hand gently on my mid back and spun me around. "Shall we talk outside? I'm afraid that someone will listen to our conversation. There are a lot of eavesdroppers in the world now." He said rather agitated. I shivered.

He led me to the opened doors to the backyard. When we were far enough away from the house, he removed his hand from my back. He walked ahead as I just stood on the spot.

"Nice night isn't it?" Kaleb asked casually. I didn't like that. I didn't like that one bit. He looked over at me when I didn't say anything. I blinked and he was suddenly in front of me. He placed his hands on my face.

"The rights to the thrown has finally shown herself.." Kaleb said acidly. I tried to pull away from him. It didn't work.

"It took me fifteen years to get them to think of me as their ruler, and you have to show up." He glared at me menacingly, I thought I would have been able to get a chance to run for my life. Doesn't look like he's wasting anytime.

"The look of you, the smell of you, he the way you speak. They know that your there ruler. They know! Even I know! You sicken me!" His nails slowly dug into my cheeks. I squeaked in pain and he noticed. His eyes shot wide for a moment then narrowed again. He swiped his hands away and then took a step back. I touched my face. I pulled my hand away and saw that there was blood on my face. I looked up at Kaleb in fear.

"With you here, I can't be ruler. Now that they know that you're alive, they're going to make you their queen, and I will be thrown off the thrown like some rag doll!!: Kaleb yelled. I took a step back from him.

Suddenly, there were giant dogs in front of him. If I looked closer, they looked like wolves. The problem was, they looked part human too. They were the size of Elephants! I took another step back. I wasn't getting closer to the door let me tell you, I was getting closer to the woods.

"You know nothing about this world! You don't belong here!" Kaleb lifted his hands, the giant wolves snarled in my direction. I turned around and started to run. I flicked my heels off as fast as possible. I heard Kaleb say mumble something before i ran into the woods. I heard the wolves howl. I pumped my legs to go faster.

For christ sake, i I were half Vampire, doesn't that mean I can run faster than humans. I continued to run. I had no clue where I was going. What I did know was that i was getting the hell away from Kaleb and those wolf things. I jumped over roots and logs, my lungs were screaming for air. But I continued to run.

I was going to turn left when one of those wolves appeared. I abruptly stopped and fell backwards. The wolf snarled at me. Acid like liquid oozed out of his giant mouth and he stared at me with his penetrating red eyes. This was it, I was going to die.

The wolf opened its mouth to show its pearly white teeth. I screamed a blood curdling scream. The wolf came down at me.

The wolf was suddenly thrown to the side. I looked over in that direction and saw another giant thing. This one was different though. This one was more wolf like. It was the same height but it didn't stand on it's hind legs. It stood on all fours. The wolf snarled and barked at the wolf-being. The wolf pounced and bit into the wolf-being. The wolf-being let out a howl.

I took this as my chance to run again. I got up and bolted deeper into the woods. I could hear the howls from the wolves behind me. But I ignored them and ran. There was a final howl and then a snap before it all went silent. I stopped in my tracks. I decided to hide this time. I found a giant tree trunk and hid underneath it.

I heard a rumble. It sounded like it was getting closer. I hope it doesn't find me!!

I heard sniffing, It was getting closer. I suddenly saw a snout come down and sniff around the tree trunk. I kept as quiet as I could. It stopped sniffing in front of the tree trunk. I began to shake. It found me! What do I do now?!

It started to cry.

_What the..._

The giant wolf did in fact start to squeal. It gently pawed at the tree trunk and continued to cry. I felt bad for the thing. I had no clue what it was but, it was trying to say something to me. I sighed deeply, and quietly and crawled out. Immediately, the wolf stopped crying.

I came out all the way and stared at the gaint wolf. It stared at me with it's silver colored eyes. I never in my life have seen a wolf with silver eyes. The wolf took a slow step toward me. I began to get nervous. What was it going to do? There was no way I could run.

In one full step, it was infront of me. I took a deep breath and waited to see what it would do. It sniffed my face. Then, it nudged me and pointed to my hand. Did it want me to pet it. I slowly lifted my hand. I placed my hand on its head. It started to rumble.

Was the wolf trying to purr!? I slightly smiled. This was a weird creature. It leaned into my hand when I scratched it's ear. Its eyes suddenly shot open and it darted off into thr trees. I watched. Why did it run?

Then I realized I was alone, In the woods, with maybe more of those wolf-like beings. I turned in the direction where the giant wolf went. Should I go that way? Or should I go back the way I came from? I turned around, then left, then right. Which way did I come from?

"Irina!"

I turned to where I heard my name being called. Was it Desmond? Tyler? OH, I don't care who it is as long as I get out of these woods!

I saw the guy holding a flashlight. When he shined it in my eyes, I cringed away and hid behind my hands. That was so bright!

"Sorry," He said and pulled the flashlight away from my eyes. "Irina are you okay?" I looked over and stared at the giant boy.

"Seth?" I said, the boy grinned and walked over to me.

"I couldn't believe that you were all the way out here. It really surprised me." He said. I looked at him funny. What was he talking about when he went 'couldn't believe'?

"What are you talking about? How did you know I was out here?" I asked. Seth took my hand and led me down a path. I followed obediently.

"I'll tell you when we get out of the woods." He said simply. I nodded my head and continued down the trail Seth was leading me down.

When we got out of the woods. I was faced with a house. It wasn't big like Desmond's, but it was big enough. We walked toward it and walked in through the door. This was obviously Seth's house.

"Guys! I'm back!" Seth called out. There was a sudden burst of feet. Four boys came pushing and shoving down the stairs. I stared in awe at how tall they were.

"Irina, I would like you to meet my brothers. This is Travis" He pointed to the boy who had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He was unbelievably massive. He wasn't fat or anything, he was nothing but muscles. Well, that goes for every other boy here too.

"Scott." He pointed to the one with Black hair and blue eyes.

"Randy." He pointed to the boy with the buzz cut hair with chocolate brown eyes.

"And this, is Brandon." Brandon had short cropped dirty blond hair with brown eyes. I couldn't believe how tall he stood over not only me, but his brothers. He obviously must have been the oldest.

"Hey!" They all boomed with their loud voices. I jumped back a little. I wasn't expecting that!

They led me into the living room and sat me down on the small couch. Travis and Scott sat next to me while Randy, Brandon, and Seth stood in front of me. Was this interrogation?

"Irina, you saw something today, didn't you?" Seth asked, he folded his arms across his buff chest. I waited for him to continue after I nodded and shook my head at the same time. The giant wolf-being was still in my mind.

"What you saw is very normal for us." He said. What did he mean by normal? That was no where near normal! Wait, are they one of them? It wouldn't surprise me as much as it would have before now that I think about it.

"Irina, those were Werewolves and we're one too." Seth said, he knelt down in front of me. I stared in awe at him, then from each of his brothers. Brandon's laugh boomed through the house.

"Well, we are! Seth is nothing but a shape shifter!" He said, smacking Seth's arm. He said and stood back up.

"There's a difference?" I asked. Travis nodded. Looks like he's taking over this time. "Werewolves are the giant beasts that stand on their hind legs and look human. Shape Shifters transform into a giant version of a wolf."

"Great.....more chaos......"

_**Hey guys, Sorry it took me so long to get this up. A lot has happened here at home. I actaully haven't been home for a while now. I just came home a couple days ago. From now on, I expect four reviews in order for another chapter to come up. Thanks,**_

_**JalissaM  
**_


	14. The Sad Truth for the Shape Shifter

I was still at Seth's and his brothers' house. We talked about they're family origin and about the fact that they were werewolves. They told me the difference between Werewolves and Shape shifters. Shape shifters were creatures that could change into anything they desire but have only one choice. Seth could have shifted into a cat if he want but he would have to that for the rest of his life. He chose a wolf so he could be more part of the pack.

"So, Is there more like you?" I asked hesitantly, thinking that I might offend them. I was in the kitchen with Seth and Brandon while everyone was in the living room playing the WII. I was actually worried that they would get angry and brake the TV. Or someone.

"There's a whole bunch of us. But, only one of Seth." Brandon said, looking at Seth sadly. Confused, I looked over at Seth. "What does that mean?" I asked. Seth looked up at me with a sad expression.

"I'm the only one of my kind." He said. He looked back down and the counter and rest his head on his folded arms. I looked back at Brandon and he was nodding his head. We all have the same mother except for Seth. Our mother was a werewolf while his was human." Brandon explained with a sad expression. Seth was the only one of his kind? That's terrible...he's...he's...

"You're just like me.." You said to Seth. Seth looked up at me. This time he had the confused expression on his face. "What?"

"Seth, I'm-"

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I heard Travis screech out. The three of us got up and ran into the living room. When we got there, Desmond stood in front of the door with an angry expression. When he turned and saw me, his expression relaxed into relief.

"Irina...."

"Desmond!!" I shouted, running over to him. When I got close enough to him, he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. I didn't refuse of course. I just wondered why he was being so defensive. I looked over at the pack and saw that they were staring at me with disbelief.

"Irina...what are you doing?!" Seth said, looking at me as if I had touched something revolting. I looked over at Travis, Scott, and Randy were covering their noses. What the heck's going on?

"What are you doing here you filthy vampire?" Brandon barked. What happened to him all of a sudden he was all playful just a couple seconds ago....and Desmond isn't dirty!!

"I came to bring Irina home." He said simply, pulling me closer to him.

"Home?! Irina doesn't belong with you! She's human!!" Seth growled. I turned to stare at Seth. He thought I was human? But...they know Desmond's a vampire, shouldn't they be able to sense that I'm half-vampire?

Desmond sighed in agitation.

"Do you know why you have this sensation to pull her away from me?" Desmond asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. Seth and the group took a step toward looked like they were ready to transform at any second. The only one that realized what they just did was Brandon. He looked around at the group of Wolves.

"Why?" Travis asked, the scrawniest of the wolves. That didn't mean that he wasn't as just a threat like his giant brothers.

"That sensation you feel that you need to protect her, It's because she's your ruler." Desmond Finished, pulling me closer to him. My hands were touching his chest so I wouldn't fully fall into him. His hand was tightly wrapped around my shoulder.

"Then-then you're a..." Seth tried to say. But it wouldn't come out.

"She is a half-vampire." Desmond said for him. I looked at the boys. They all looked at me in surprise. I guess this wasn't what they were expecting.

"Wait, Half? There's such thing?"Brandon asked. He seemed to be the only one able to speak. Everyone else was still staring at me in disbelief.

"No," Desmond said, he looked down at me with a soft expression. "She is the only one of her kind." He touched my cheek with his hand. I felt my heart pick up speed along with blood rushing to my cheeks. I looked toward some other place so Desmond couldn't see.

"So that's what you meant."

I turned, Desmond was leaning on the couch and staring at me with a hurt expression. I didn't understand why though, we barely knew each other. He couldn't have thought of me as that much of a friend could he? Dog DNA really does flow through him.

"That's what you meant when you said that I was like you?" Seth was starring at the floor now. Apparently it was much more interesting. "Sorry, but,"

I looked at Seth worriedly. He looked up at me with a glare. "Sorry but, I'm nothing like you." He said acidly, It looked like he want to tear we to shreds. I shrunk into Desmond.

"Then we'll be leaving." Desmond said. I saw him look over to Seth, his eyes had changed from icy blue, to coal black. That was obviously a warning. He turned around and pulled my out their door.

"Where's Tyler and the others?" I asked, Desmond's car was sitting out front. He opened the passenger seat for me and then closed it when I got in. When I turned to put my seat belt on, he was already pulling out of the drive way from Seth's house. I looked through their windows and saw Seth looking out through them. I looked at him sadly. He looked like he was torn in two. I felt terrible for ever letting him know what I was now.

"I'm sorry that Seth said such a thing to you." Desmond said looking at me. I should have told him to keep his eyes on the road but, who knew how long he had been driving. I looked out the window and nodded my head. "Doesn't really matter, I only met him once at school. This would be the second time." I said. My hands were folded and laying on my lap. I squeezed them.

"But you thought you had found someone that you could have related to, after that person you thought you could have related says something like that, you must feel all alone." He said, he took a look at the road and then back at me. How did he figure all this out? Was he some sort of therapist in his past life?

I said nothing and continued to look out the window. Yes, I felt really alone in the world now. Knowing that your the only one of your kind, and then everyone else has a group. It's lonely. You have no one you can relate to. I thought that Seth would be that someone that I could relate to. After he said I couldn't made me feel terrible. I felt something grip my clutched hands. I looked down at the and saw another hand. I turned to Desmond and saw that he was starring at the road this time instead of me. I pulled one of my hands out and took his. I squeezed it and he squeezed back.

"You may be the only one of you're kind, but you cans still talk to people." Desmond said. He looked down at me with a reassuring smile. I smiled and nodded. I turned back to look through the window. I didn't let go of his hand until we got home.

***

School was tiring that week. I didn't want to do a single thing. I got in trouble more than once with the teachers and got sent to the office once. The principle let me off with a warning because he knew that I had just found out that I was adopted. But actually, that was the least of my worries.

That entire week, I had been seeing things.

It wasn't those, 'I thought I saw something' and turned out to be something that you mistook for. The things were actually there. Yesterday in Math I had seen something standing out the window with a long black jacket on. The hood was covering his face. But when I told Tyler to look out the window, it was gone. But, I decided to call myself crazy ever since I found out about Vampires and Werewolves. I was waiting for the witches to come up to greet me.

I saw Seth and the boys that week. Brandon didn't go to school because he had already graduated. He was getting ready for collage. Every time I had tried to speak to Seth, He would turn the other way. I was able to talk with Travis, Randy and Scott though. They didn't seem to mind that I was a Half-vampire. After I told them that I didn't have to drink blood. They were thrilled. They would call me over if they saw me in the halls. I would sit next to Travis in Calculus. I had happily found out that the other day when the three boys took my schedule and looked through it. I had Calculus with Travis, History with Scott, and Computer Technology with Randy. All three of them and Seth were in my gym class also.

I was in Gym now, the last class of the day. We were playing tennis outside. There were teams of two. I was with Tyler. Desmond was with Benjamin and Merissa and Kristal were together. In gym, The wolf pack wouldn't come near me. I understood though, they didn't want to go near the Vampires and the Vampires didn't want to go near the Werewolves.

Right now, It was me and Tyler against Benjamin and Desmond. Everyone was worried that I would get hurt. But I reassured them that I would be fine and that me and Desmond would kick butt. The score was pretty much tied though and this was the last round.

"Let's kick their asses unknown!" Tyler shouted from behind me. Tyler called me "unknown" Because I didn't have a last name. I knew my actual last name. It was actually, Galatrix. It was such a weird last name that there was no way I could use. So, I kept to Thomas but Tyler stuck with "Unknown"

"You got it Thomas!" I threw the ball in the air. The ball came down and I slammed it across the court, it went flying past Benjamin. Desmond just in time hit it and Tyler ran to get it. He hit it back and Benjamin got it this time. The tennis ball was coming toward me this time. I got ready to hit it.

Desmond shifted to the left and I caught site of the man in the black cloak.

"What the-!?"

The ball flew past me. The referee blew his whistle and pointed to Benjamin and Desmond. They had one. Benjamin grinned and gave his brother I high five. Tyler looked at me as If I were crazy to have missed that swing.

"What the heck? That was a perfect shot for you!" Tyler said walking over to me. I continued to stare at the man in the cloak. He shifted his hand. He pointed his hand toward me. I shivered. What the hell is going on?!

"Irina! Are you listening?" Tyler placed his hand on my shoulder. I flinched and brushed it away. I was just surprised from his touch because I wasn't paying attention. Tyler I guess thought that I was being rude.

"What the hell's your problem?! You've been like this all week! Grow up!" Tyler shouted. By now, everyone was looking at us. I didn't really care though. They probably thought of it as a family argument.

"What the hell is _your _problem?! You're the one going off because you lost the Tennis match! It's just a game! _You _grow up!" I snapped back. Tyler growled at me. "You're being such a bi-"

I lunged myself at Tyler. He fell backwards and me on top of him. I started pulling at his hair and his nose. He grabbed my arms and rolled so that he was on top of me now. He started to pull at every piece of my face too. Then, we started rolling around on the floor pulling and kicking at each other. I rolled onto Tyler and raised my fist. Ready to give him a good whack in the face. When I just got to his nose, someone pulled me off of Tyler and hi away from me. I was kicking at screaming at the person who was holding me back from Tyler. Tyler was doing the same thing to his captive.

"Knock it off! Both of you!" I heard Desmond shout over us. That made me stop. But Tyler ignored him and kept going.

"If your going to be in such a pissy mood, you might as well go home! Back to England with all you're other friends!"

Everyone gasped that was around us. My eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Tyler realized what he had said but he didn't stop glaring at me. I felt Desmond loosen his grip on me and I quickly slipped out from him. I gave Tyler a look before I walked back into the school. I didn't look back when I heard Merissa and Kristal calling after me. I heard everyone start yelling at Tyler before I closed the door to the school behind me.

"Damn jerk..." I said, when I got into the girls changing room. I changed out of my gym shorts and shirt. I put my dark black faded skinny jeans and a shirt that said, 'Break the rules' back on. I put on a cardigan with no sleeves over the shirt and started putting my black heal boots on. I suddenly her the door to the bathroom open then close. I didn't think much of it because it was almost time for everyone to come back anyway.

But, I heard deep breathing. When I finished, I looked up and there stood the man in the black cloak. Even with him only two feet away from me, I still couldn't see his face. He left his hand up and gestured his finger for me to come closer. I obviously didn't. No way was I going over to someone that scared the crap out of me. When he noticed that i didn't plan on moving, he advanced toward me. I walked backwards until I hit the wall. My breath came in rasped breaths, my heart was going a mile a minute. I was scared out of my mind. What was he going to do? Was he going to kill me?

He lifted his head and I finally saw his face. It was nothing but a skeleton. It was a pale white skeleton that hand sharp pointed teeth instead of normal teeth. His eyes were glowing read and he let out a deep breath, like he was trying to speak to me. He lifted his hand toward my face. When he was about to touch it, I screamed. Once I screamed the thing in the cloak took a step back and flung something at me. That's all I saw before darkness had consumed me.

**_Hey guys! It's almost Christmas!!! Sorry to say this but, I actually forgot about the story I got that excited ____.....sorrrryyyyyyyy_**

**_Review 4 times to get the next chapter up!!! You can yell at me for forgetting too! lol, Merry Christmas Everyone!!_**

**_JalissaM  
_**


	15. Surgery

When I opened my eyes, everyone I knew was standing over me. I saw Merissa, Kristal, Benjamin, Desmond, Cory, Ryan, Max, and some of the students that didn't hate me. Even the wolf boys were here! Well, next t the door, trying not to make it look like they smelled something really bad. Do the Vampire's smell bad to them?

"Hey, you awake?" Merissa asked me, Things were still a bit blurry; and the light from the ceiling wasn't helping anything either. I squinted, I was able to get a better view of Merissa now. I also realized that I was in the school nurse's room. Great.....

"We heard you scream so we ran. When we came in, you were unconscious on the ground." Kristal said, looking at me worriedly. By now, Everyone except for Desmond, Kristal, Benjamin and Merissa were the only ones in the room. I wasn't sure if Tyler was in here or not and the wolf pack must have left once they knew I was okay.

"So, what exactly happen?" Benjamin asked. I looked over at him with my half open eyes. I decided to sit up. Desmond noticed and started to help me so I wouldn't fall, when I was positioned, I gave him a Thank You. He smiled with a nod.

"There was....this thing..." You said, remembering the skeleton like creature. It sent shivers up your spin. Desmond and Benjamin looked at each other. Like they were trying to figure out what I had seen. "It tried to..to touch me! I screamed and it threw something at me..did you see it?" I asked, looking from each of the vampires.

"There was nothing there when we found you." Merissa said, looking at me funny. She turned to Desmond and gave him a look. He nodded and headed out of the Nurse's office.

"Where's he going?"

"He's gone to call Craig, you might have just tripped and fell and hit your head hard on the ground." Merissa said. I nodded. It would be a good idea to get my head checked to see if I head done any damage. There was already a tumor inside it.

Desmond came back a few minutes later. "Craig is coming to pick you up in five minutes." Desmond said. I nodded and started to stand up from the bed. Desmond took a hold of my hand and helped me off the bed and out of the room. Geez, this guy was so nice, unlike someone I can name...

I guess it was time to look around the room before I left. I scanned it quickly before Desmond and I left. Tyler wasn't there at all. That made me angry. The closest person to me wasn't even there to see if I was okay. I shouldn't even care about what he does anyhow...after what he said to me. Rude little son of a-

"There's Craig." Desmond said, cutting me off of my train of thoughts.I guess that's good because I would have said some pretty foul things.I looked at Desmond and smiled. "Thanks for helping me."

"Anytime" He said grinning. Before I got into the car Desmond pulled me back. "Cory, Ryan and Max went to tell Tyler you were okay. He wasn't there because he felt that you were really pissed at him. Which you are." Desmond said, grinning at the last part. I looked at him funny.

"You read my mind just now didn't you? When you touched me?" I gave him a look of disapproval. That's the one spot for a person to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves. Nobody wants someone to root through them like they're nothing.

"I just want to see what you were thinking about." He said playfully. I laughed a bit. My cheeks were a bit pink, I could see from one of the school windows.

"You better get going. Craig's waiting for you." Desmond said, his smile was disappearing a little. I nodded my head and got into the car. As Craig drove off, I waved goodbye to Desmond. I sat in the car quietly. Craig was starring ahead paying attention to the road more than me. That, I was thankful for.

When we got to the Hospital, We walked straight to Craig's office. He shined a light through my eyes and checked my pulse. So far so good. Then he started to check my nerves.

He taped the little hammer on my knee. It was supposed to kick up right away but, I kicked up three seconds after. He gave me a look.

"Time for a Brain M.R.I." He said. This is when I started to get worried. Was I seeing things because of the tumor? Huh, I guess sooner or later it's going to-

Oh boy....

We got to the M.R.I. Now I was dressed in a hospital gown. The nurse that Craig had with him was helping me lay on the M.R.I table and poistioning me properly. Craig was in the other room, waiting to get started. When the nurse was in the other room with him, The table started moving toward the giant tube machine. When I was in, it started making a loud sound. I was used to it. This wasn't the first time I had an M.R.I.

It was probably going to be my last too.

Later, I was finally finished. The seat pulled out and I waited walked in the room with the pictures. He placed them on the picture holder and turned the light on. I could see the pictures of my brain and where my tumor was, right in front of my brain. It must have at least grew two inches from the last time I saw. It looked like it was pushing against my brain.

Craig sighed. He turned toward me with a sad expression.

"We have to go through surgery." Craig said, he looked at his watch and started to pull the images of brain down. Thank god, I thought they were soon going to be impended in my brain. I realized what Craig had just said.

_Surgery?!_

"What are you talking about?! You said I wouldn't need it until I was in my twenties!" I hissed. This was getting to much for me. I wasn't ready to have my rain cut up and getting a giant clump of cells pulled out of my brain.

"I was wrong..I never took the time in thinking about you being an exception to this. You're a half vampire after all. Of course it would grow exceptionally fast." Craig said, he extended his hand to me but I refused to take it.

"But still! Why do I need it now?" I asked desperately, trying to somehow get out of this.

Craig sat down in the chair that was sitting next to the door. I waited for him to start.

"The tumor grew so big that it's touching your Frontal cortex. That's where most of you memories are..like who you are...who other people are. If it explodes, there's a chance that you'll die. But if you do survive, you'll go without a shred of memory about yourself and everyone else. You'll probably have a personality change too." Craig finished. He leaned back in the chair and waited for me to respond.

"So, it's like a forever Amnesia?" I asked. Craig nodded. I shivered. "So, what you're saying is, I'm seeing things because of the tumor?" Craig nodded again. I looked down at my feet.

It was the right thing to do. Take the tumor out and I'm fine, no memory loss, no almost death. Simple..but why do I keep refusing? Am I just being a pathetic teenager that's too scared to go through surgery? This is stupid, I know the answer to this and how it's going to turn out if I don't take the surgery.

"When do you start?" I asked him. Craig got up and started walking around the room. He turned all the lights off and turned back to me.

"Now."

Ohhh boy.....

I was laying on one of the hospital beds. Waiting to be dragged into the O.R. Waiting for people who I have no clue to cut open my head and start poking at my brain. I prayed that I wouldn't be awake for this. If I would be, I'd have a panic attack and refuse to be awake for it. Marcus would be there. There apparently the best doctors in the hospital. They did have how many year at being a doctor?

A nurse came and started pushing me along. I felt the panic go through me. But I wasn't going to back I didn't do this, I would most likely die. So, I stared at the ceiling until I saw the doors to the operating room.

Craig was the to greet me. I gave him a shaky nod. He pulled his mask down and spoke.

"I called Tyler and the others. They're really worried about you. I'm pretty sure by the time we start they're going to be here." Craig said. I gave him a look. "Why did you call them?"

"Well, I didn't really call them, Tyler called me and asked how you were doing. When I told him he sounded really desperate. He's probably running through street lights to get here. If I find out that he did he's going to be in a lot of trouble." Craig said laughing a little. I couldn't find it in me to laugh. Craig noticed.

"The surgery is going to go along fine. There's no flaws to it. You're going to be fine." I nodded my head. Soon, the sleeping gas mask was placed over my head. And I fell asleep in no time.

I felt myself waking up. I didn't opened my eyes just yet. I could still feel the drugs running threw me. I slowly opened my eyes to the really bright light. The ceiling was the usual for a hospital; white. I slowly sat up and looked around. The door to my room was opened but no one was inside. I took another look around. Then, I touched my forehead. There were stitches. Obviously the surgery was a success, thank god. I closed my eyes and sighed with relief.

I opened them and the skeleton with the cloak was standing at the foot of my head.

I almost screamed. The heart monitor that was connected to me was beeping erratically. That meant my heart was going in overdrive. The thing crept closer to me. He was reaching out to me again, his wheezy and horrifying teeth were all I could see and hear. Then he went into his pocket.

Was he going to pull out some killing tool? Crap, carp, crap....

I screamed.

The skeleton pulled his hand out and threw something on my bed. Then, it vanished. I was still screaming even after it was gone. I was terrified as the time as I saw someone standing out in front of my window. I could say they were definitely not the same person. This thing had more then a pair of sharp teeth. It had a whole jaw full.

Finally, people started rushing in to see what was wrong. I finished screaming by then but I was taking in deep raspy breaths. Craig, Marcus, Desmond and Tyler burst into the room. Merissa and Kristal right behind them.

"Irina? What's wrong!?" Craig asked, he put his hands on my shoulders to stop me from shaking. It didn't help. The vibrations of me went through him. Marcus was trying to calm me down too. Looking from me, to the heart monitor.

"I wasn't seeing things! It was actually there!!" I screeched. Craig gave me a shocked look. Marcus finally ignored the Monitor and turned to me.

"It was actually there?" Marcus asked. Sounding very worried.

"Yes! It was the same thing from last time!" I whimpered out, I was crying now. I was terrified. People in the hall would glimps in and continue on their way. Then I remembered that the thing threw something on the bed.

"It...it threw something! On the corner of the bed!" I started pointing, Craig and Marcus looked the corners of the bed.

"This?" Desmond asked.

I looked at him and he was holding some sort of medallion. On the medallion, there was a a phoenix. The phoenix looked a little different from normal ones I saw in pictures. This one had fangs coming from it.

"This is..." Marcus mumbled, taking it from Desmond's looked like he just went paler then usual. So did Marcus. Desmond wasn't really worrying about it. He probably didn't know what it meant.

"That's your father's..." Craig whispered to me. I went pale too after that.

"What...?"

_**Hey Guys, I got a Chapter out really early becuase in three weeks time, I'll be having my exams and, well, I don't do so good in school. Except for english though. So, I'm going to be studying my butt off! Review plz! Bahbye for now!!**_

_**JalissaM  
**_


	16. The Start if the Search

I stared at the old golden medallion. This was my fathers. I couldn't believe it, I slid my fingers across the medallion and stared at it.

I was home now. Because of the surgery I would have to stay home for the rest of the week. Which was okay because I wanted to get to the bottom of this medallion. But, I just didn't exactly know where to start.

Everyone was gone of course. It was the middle of the day. Tyler was at school, Craig was at the Hospital working. It was really quiet at the house but that's what you wanted right now. You wanted time to think. I wanted to know what I could do. I wanted to know who my father was. Not jsut that he was the ruler of the mythical realm. But the real him. Why he fell in love with my mom, why he ran away. Why he disappeared from everyone's lives. But I would have to find out if he was even alive at first.

But who could help? Tyler wouldn't. He would right off the bat deny the idea and say it's too dangerous. So would everyone else. I would have asked Seth but then I remembered that he was a shape shifter and wasn't to found of us vampires. Half-vampire in my case. I couldn't ask Merissa because she would tell on me. Who on earth would help me?

Then, I thought of Shane. He helped me fix my bike and befriended me. He seemed like a nice guy but also a trouble maker. I grabbed my cell phone from the bar side of the counter. I looked at the clock and saw that Everyone would be on lunch right now. I dialed Shane's number and waited while it rang.

"Hello?" I heard Shane's voice say. I grinned and sat down in the stool in front of me.

"Hey Shane, It's me Irina." I said through the phone. I heard people in the background. Some of his friends I think. He was walking away from them.

"Hey, how's it going? How are you feeling?" He asked. I couldn't hear his friends anymore. I played with the pen that was in front of me.

"Good, I kinda need a favor.." I said shyly. I thought that he wouldn't help me anymore now that he fixed my car. So you could say I was very happy with his response.

"Sure, what do you need?" He asked.

I didn't speak for a moment. I thought about how I would explain it to him that I wanted to find my father. I was simple yet hard and confusing.

" I want to find my father. And I thought that-"

"Yeah, I'll help. I'll leave now actually. I've been in High school more than once so I know what were learning." He said while laughing a little. I laughed too.

"Thanks a million Shane." I said. I heard something slam. It must have been Shane's car door.

"Don't sweat it. I was wondering when you were actually going to ask someone. I raised my eyebrow a little.

"You knew I was going to ask?" I asked in wonder. How could someone know that?

"Well, I didn't exactly know that you were going to ask _me_. But I knew that question would pop up to someone."

"Exactly how though?"

I heard Shane laugh through the phone. "I get a few messages from the big guy upstairs to help out a certain leader to be. I'll be there in five. Talk to you later." Then he hung up. I pressed the end call button and sat in the stool.

"Well then, God's real." I jumped from the stool and walked up to my room to put on some clothes instead of my pajamas. "Or he's talking about Greek gods. I really shouldn't be surprised anymore."

When Seth drove up the drive way, I ran to the door and swung it open. Seth was already in front of the door to my surprise about to knock. He had a surprised look on his face when he saw me. Then, he grinned and waved.

"Hey, What's up?" He asked in a casual tone. I grinned and moved out of the way to let him in. He walked in and plopped onto the couch in the living room. I took the chair across from him and let out a sigh. I had a head rush when I jumped from the stool. My head was starting to hurt. Shane stared at me for a moment then started to speak.

"So, how do you plan on starting this search?" He asked, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees. He put his hands together and started at me intently. I thought for a while. I seriously didn't have a clue how I was going to find him.

"I thought so." Shane suddenly said. He sprung of from the couch like a lemur. I watched as he made his way over to the coat hanger. He grabbed my new leather coat that I had gotten from shopping with Kristal for dresses. He handed to me when I got up and put my shoes on.

"So where are we going?" I asked, walking out the door and locking it behind me when Shane walked out. He grinned.

"My house. Were gonna start the search on your dad." He said simply and jumped into the driver seat. When I got in he was already driving out of the drive way. I quickly closed the door and buckled me seat belt for extra safety.

When we pulled into his drive way, jaw dropping wasn't enough. His house obviously wasn't a regular house. It definitely was bigger than Desmond's house I could say that. When he put the car in drive, I got out of the passenger seat and gazed and the enormous house.

"Whoa." I said, Mystified by the gorgeous house. I heard Shane laughing.

"Don't you live in a big house?"

"Yeah, but not as big as this." I said, walking up the steps to the house with Shane. He laughed again and unlocked the door. He moved out of the way for me to go in first. I walked by him and into the giant room.

"This way." I heard Shane say. I looked over and saw him walking down the left corridor. I jogged after him.

When I caught up to him, I was in a giant room. There was this computer that had at least twenty different screens. All the screens were monitoring something. I was amazed, is this what you call a super computer?

"Sit here." Shane said pointing to the computer chair next to him. I took a seat and watched as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Exactly, what are you doing?"

"This is a different kind of computer you're used to." No kidding, it had more than one monitor. "It's a tracking computer, Something like the ones you see on T.V with detectives. But this doesn't look for criminals. It looks for the missing people of the Mythical Realm."

Well, new type of computer that a genius would want to take apart and try to put back together. I stared at the screen Shane was watching. A whole mess of screens had popped up and Shane would take one look then open up another.

Finally, Shane stopped at one screen. He closed all the others and read through it. Then, he looked over toward me and grinned.

"I know where your father is."

I was shocked. In five minutes he knew where he was?! Impossible! No way he could find him. No even the greatest detectives could do it that fast.

"......how...."

"It's a super computer made for the Mythical Realm. A lot different from what your used to. I told you that already." Shane said, grinning like a fool. I sighed and looked at the screen.

"So, what does it mean.?"

Shane leaned back in his computer chair. Now he had a thinking expression on his face. He rubbed that back of his head and sighed.

"It kind of means he's around here."

I sat in my chair shocked. Was he for real? Was he really somewhere in Washington? I was ready to jump out of my chair and start my search. Then I remembered that I had no idea what he looked like.

"Do you have a picture of him?" I asked. Shane leaned back over the computer, hit one button and a picture of a young man was on the screen.

"That's my father?" I asked, shocked at how young he was. I was expecting someone with a beard. My father had a clear face with beautiful blue eyes. Just like mine. His hair was a lushes chestnut brown that waved out a little. Just like mine.

"Now that I look, You get your looks from your father." Shane said, smiling sadly. I couldn't blame him. Not knowing that you pretty much a duplicate of someone you never met is sad. Especially when you're related to them.

"Alright, so you're going to start looking now?" Shane asked, getting up from the computer chair and into the large hallway. I started to follow after him. When I found him, we were in the living room and Shane was packing a bag.

"I guess so, but, I still don't know where to start." I told him. Shane got up and grabbed the bag. He handed it to me and grinned.

"When looking for a Vampire, first place to start is in the woods." He said to me. I nodded my head and put the bag on my back. Shane grabbed my wrist and took me back down the wall. We took a left, then a right. Soon, we were in front of a door. He opened it and inside was a silver 2010 Toyota rav4.

"Whoa..."

Shane laughed. "She's a beauty, isn't she? Anyway, take this car, get as deep as you can into the woods. When you do, your going to need some sort of way to call him out. Maybe it just being you will be enough for your dad to come out. If not, your going to have to figure some way to bring him out from the woods."

I nodded my head. I didn't know how to thank Shane. He's done so much. He gave me a car that I might just even total! I got into the car and strapped myself in. I turned to Shane and smiled.

"Thanks so much Shane, I seriously don't know how to thank you enough." I told him. Shane just smiled and patted me on the head.

"Just come back safe. Maybe even with your dad."

Shane backed up from the car. He walked over to the wall and pushed a button on it. Suddenly the wall in front of me started to roll up. Oh, a garage door.

Shane came back and knocked on the top of the car. "Alright, time to head out. If you need anything, try giving me a call." I nodded my head and turned the car on to life.

"Oh, and don't say anything about this to everyone else. Just, tell them something." I said. I didn't want anyone to find out and then come searching for me. It would end up in total embarrassment and me not wanting to talk to anyone in a long time.

"Will do, now go!"

I pushed on the gas and I drove out into the woods. Not knowing if I would even come back alive.


End file.
